As a Coalition, we have withdrawn our support of this bill because it has been watered down so much as to be nearly useless. As it stands now, it actually legitimizes and puts into law "gift" bags, as long as they have disclaimer tags. Below is our letter to the bill's sponsors. To Whom It May Concern: Upon review of SB 1275 as amended on May 11 and may 20, 2004, the San Diego County Breastfeeding Coalition regretfully withdraws its previous endorsement of this bill. As amended, SB1275 now explicitly permits the marketing and provision of free formula samples and related materials in all hospital areas including the maternity unit and nursery. As written, this effectively legitimizes the commercial distribution of formula in the healthcare setting. A disclaimer applied to products and samples distributed and marketed by the formula manufacturers will not obviate the mother’s perception of hospital “endorsement by association” or the deleterious effects of formula marketing on successful initiation of breastfeeding. The SDCBFC continues to strongly support the provisions in SB1275 which relate to staff education and the creation of a California Baby Friendly Task Force. We therefore suggest that the amended section relating to formula manufacturers be deleted entirely from the bill and the bill be allowed to go forward including only the educational and Baby Friendly task force provisions. This would still represent significant forward progress, not as great as initially hoped, but forward nonetheless. As presently written SB 1275 may actually set back the effort to develop “Baby Friendly” hospitals in California by “legalizing ” the hospital distribution of commercial discharge packs and free formula samples. The issue of commercial marketing of formula in health care facilities can be the focus of future legislation. We very much appreciate your outstanding efforts moving SB1275 through the legislative process as well as your efforts to keep the breastfeeding community fully informed. We look forward to actively continuing our dialogue concerning this important public health issue. Nancy Nancy E. Wight MD, IBCLC, FAAP, FABM Neonatologist Children's Hospital and Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women Medical Director, Sharp HealthCare Lactation Services San Diego, CA [log in to unmask] *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html