Dear Mr. Freeman, I recently returned from a lecture trip to Australia where I had the honor to hear the noted Swedish immunologist, Dr. Lars Hansen, give a talk titled: "Non-breastfeeding: The Most Common Immunodeficiency." In his address, he made the point that there is no longer debate over the fact that breastfeeding prevents infections. Further, there is now evidence that the protection conferred by breastfeeding has long lasting effects because it actively influences and enhances the infant's own immune system. As a result, there is improved and continued protection against infections even after the termination of breastfeeding. So the protective benefits to the child are both profound in the short run and enduring. In poor countries there is a risk 25 times higher of dying from diarrhea and pneumonia if not breastfed. Poor women who are given free formula often lack clean water to mix the formula, fuel to heat water to clean the bottles, and refrigeration to keep the formula fresh. Their babies sicken and die as the result. There is no satisfaction in saying that the risks to these children are unacceptable no matter which way you slice it. To imagine that commercial interests will stay around to pick up any of the pieces or to provide the means to make formula use safe is naive in the extreme. UNICEF has experiece with all the consequences of providing free formula, and they are the ones who stick around to pick up the pieces. Your willingness to cast UNICEF and the WHO as villians for refusing to accept free formula is both irresponsible and specious. It appears that you are happy to believe the self-serving voices of corporate propaganda when they present themselves as 'saviors' of children (in spite of years of evidence to the contrary). I cannot help but observe that you appear to be so interested in sensationalizing the issue to sell papers that you neglected moderating information from the best, scientific judgements of men and women who have spent their careers protecting the poor children of the world. There is tremendous sadness in the breastfeeding community about all the difficult dilemas that AIDS presents. Much work is in progress to try to find ways to make mothers' own milk safe for babies of infected women. If your article endangers the work of UNICEF, it has done much mischief. Barbara Wilson-Clay BSEd, IBCLC Austin Lactation Associates http://www.lactnews.com Barbara Wilson-Clay BSEd, IBCLC Austin Lactation Associates http://www.lactnews.com *********************************************** The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html