Wednesday, December 31, 2003

CBS News | Battle Over Breastfeeding Ads | December 31, 2003 11:13:25: "Battle Over Breastfeeding Ads
Dec. 31, 2003
(CBS) The largest government-sponsored advertising campaign to promote breastfeeding has come under fire even before its launch. Critics claim that the print, radio and television ads use unnecessary scare tactics to convince women to breast-feed their children..." [Yay, Amy Spangler's out there. Do a media tour, Amy!!! :-) - JC]

Sunday, December 28, 2003

NPR : Breastfeeding Campaign Questioned "

A new advertising campaign designed by the Department of Health and Human Services encourages women to breastfeed infants. It also warns of the potential health risks of not breastfeeding. The American Academy of Pediatrics questions some of the campaign's health risk claims and scare tactics. NPR's Rachel Jones reports. " [This is a good early warning. The formula industry's tactic is to create the impression that the content of the ads is controversial (the science isn't shaky; they use the questionable technique of "scare tactics", etc.). This obfuscates the real stories - 1) the industry has co-opted US pediatricians in their battle for market share and 2) women are still not being informed of the risks breastfeeding - the risks to their health, and to that of their babies - JC]

Tuesday, December 23, 2003

Breastfeeding and obesity:
12/22/2003
by Marsha Walker, RN
Boston.com / News / Boston Globe / Opinion / Letters /
"THE DEC. 18 editorial 'Policies, Not Pills' discusses after-the-fact interventions for overweight and obese children and teenagers. These children start out as infants whose diet forms the foundation for their health throughout their lives...." [ This letter goes on to question the formula manufacturers' lobbying to halt the upcoming Breastfeeding Awareness campaign. - JC]

Monday, December 22, 2003

The Milky Way of Doing Business by Katie Allison Granju - Hip Mama
Fri 19 Dec 2003 - 15:10 h
"November 3rd, 2003 was a big day for Alabama emergency room pediatrician, Dr. Carden Johnston. On that date last month, he was installed as the new President of the 66,000 member American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) at the prestigious organization's annual meeting in New Orleans. It was also the date that he sparked what has emerged as a major ethical controversy by inadvertently pulling back the curtains on the powerful influence that a particular corporate interest appears to have in shaping AAP policy and action...." [Excellent investigative article - JC]

Wednesday, December 17, 2003

Martek Posts Higher Profit For Quarter (TechNews.com)
"Nutritional Oils Account For 90% of Revenue
By Michael Barbaro
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 17, 2003; Page E05
Martek Biosciences Corp. continued to grow rapidly in its most recent quarter as sales of its nutritional oils to infant formula makers surged. The Columbia biotechnology firm's fourth-quarter revenue rose to $38.6 million from $15.1 million. It earned $6.2 million (21 cents a share) in the quarter ended Oct. 31, compared with $375,000 (2 cents) a year earlier, when the company took a $15.8 million charge tied to the purchase of competitor OmegaTech Inc...."

Monday, December 15, 2003

(DiamondbackOnline.com) Hitting the books and changing diapers
: "Hitting the books and changing diapers
By Daina Klimanis
Staff writer
PETER CASEY--THE DIAMONDBACK
"As she rushes out of her apartment at 6:15 a.m., Ebony Sails first puts on her coat and backpack. Then she slings a bag full of baby bottles over one shoulder and a bag holding a breast milk pump over the other. Once everything is in place, she leans over to pick up her son, Jalen, who's just shy of 5 months old. She'll drop him off at her grandmother's house and then go to work at the Department of Energy. Later she'll drive to the university; during her breaks between classes, she'll pump breast milk into bottles in the bathroom of Tydings Hall...." [I really like that this is in a student newspaper - what a great role model this women is to her fellow students... most of these young people will have given no thought up until now to the idea that one can pump breastmilk to nourish a child.- JC]
McCullough tapped to head Ross Products - 2003-12-15 - Business First of Columbus
"Gary McCullough has been named head of Abbott Laboratories Inc.'s Columbus-based Ross Products division. McCullough replaces Gary Flynn, who will retire in 2004 after 32 years with Abbott...."

Tuesday, December 09, 2003

OFFICE AS A LACTATION LOCATION
New York Post Online Edition: health
By JENNIFER GOULD KEIL
December 9, 2003
"PUBLIC relations exec Sonya Rendigs does it in the ladies' room.

Scientist Katie Brennan found an empty office and did it there.

And when writer Diane Brady needed to pump breast milk for her infant son and daughter, she did it in her glass-walled office at Business Week - behind a Japanese screen...."

Monday, December 08, 2003

The Daily Telegraph | Working mothers turning to bottle
By ZOE TAYLOR Medical Reporter
December 9, 2003
"WOMEN are under more pressure than ever to quit breastfeeding and return to work in a trend that is worrying health professionals. It's part of the reason for a new push by NSW Health to encourage breastfeeding. At six months, fewer than 20 per cent of NSW babies are being exclusively breastfed. The World Health Organisation recommends babies receive nothing but breast milk for the first six months..."
Philadelphia Inquirer | 12/08/2003 | Dispute over tone delays ad push for breast-feeding
By Marie McCullough
Inquirer Staff Writer

"A government-funded advertising campaign to encourage breast-feeding is being toned down and postponed amid criticism that the ads make unproven medical claims and use scare tactics. The leading critics are the makers of infant formula, a multibillion-dollar industry. Complaints also have come from officials at the American Academy of Pediatrics, a group that staunchly promotes breast-feeding and drew fire in 1997 for urging new mothers to commit to the practice for at least a year...."
Update on Hospitalized Remedia Babies
Arutz Sheva - Israel National News
14:48 Dec 08, '03 / 13 Kislev 5764
(IsraelNN.com) Three infants remain in the Schneider's Children's Hospital and Tel HaShomer Hospital, all in serious condition - the result of the vitamin b1 deficiency in the Remedia soy-based infant formula...."

Sunday, December 07, 2003


Yahoo! News - Breastfeeding mom gets three months home arrest

Fri Dec 5, 2:17 PM ET
"RAVENNA, United States (AFP) - A 29-year-old mother who drove down a motorway breastfeeding her baby has been sentenced to three months' home arrest. An Ohio judge also put Catherine Donkers on probation for two years and ordered her to undergo a mental health evaluation on account of her repeated defiance of law enforcement officials Thursday. Execution of the sentence was delayed pending the outcome of Donkers' appeal. "
On The Job / Bureau of Labor and Industries: Oregon law doesn't order breast-feeding adaptations - The Register-Guard, Eugene, Oregon, USA
"December 7, 2003
By Dan Grinfas
"Question: What is an employer's obligation to allow breast-feeding in the workplace? Does the law mandate extra breaks for this purpose?

Answer: Some states make it an employer's obligation to allow for breast-feeding in the workplace. But Oregon employment laws do not set any special standards in this area...."
VOANews.com - iThemba Lethu: Caring For The Infant AIDS Orphans
"In areas where HIV/AIDS is widespread, there is often intense debate over whether it’s safe for a woman to breastfeed. Supporters say babies who are breastfed are usually much healthier than those on powdered formula. But critics say breastfeeding results in many thousands of HIV infected babies each year. In Durban, South Africa, one small group that cares for AIDS orphans thinks it has an answer. Anna Coutsoudis has watched HIV/AIDS spread across her country at an alarming rate. It its wake, the epidemic has left behind AIDS orphans, many of them infants. Ms. Coutsoudis is an associate professor of pediatrics and child health at the University of Natal. She is also the founder of a home for infant AIDS orphans. ..."
India bans baby formula ads - http://www.theage.com.au
December 6, 2003

"India will ban advertisements for baby formula in a bid to promote breast feeding, officials say. The ban starts on January 1 and will apply to all forms of media, the government said in a statement. India's Parliament had approved the action in May. The government will also officially recommend that babies be given only mother's milk for the first six months of a child's life. Previously, it had recommended exclusive breast feeding up to 4 months...."

Thursday, December 04, 2003

Advertising: Breastfeeding Ads Delayed by a Dispute Over Content
By MELODY PETERSEN
Published: December 4, 2003

"Federal officials have softened a national advertising campaign to promote breastfeeding after complaints from two companies that make infant formula, according to several doctors and nurses who are helping the government with the effort...."

Wednesday, December 03, 2003

Appeal: Under threat: an ancient tribe emerging from the forests

independent.co.uk
By Paul Vallely
04 December 2003

"The woman came out from the forest at the side of the road. She was stark naked, apart from a thong of braided red around her loins. She waved to stop the bus. As it slowed the passengers could see that delicately drawn patterns in white clay adorned her face and body. Those in the bus were fascinated, and wary. For tens of thousands of years the Jarawa people have lived in isolation in the rainforest of the Andaman Islands, remote in the Indian Ocean. Their reputation is of a hostile tribe ready to keep strangers at bay with bows and arrows. But now, for the first time, they have started to emerge from their forests....
It is only in the past 150 years that the islands have been settled, first by the British, who set up a penal colony, and then by the Indians. Slowly the settlers have cleared the forest. The Indian government set aside an area of rainforest for the Jarawa but it saw them as 'primitive'. Its officials took gifts of food and cloth to the edge of the forest: the Jarawa accepted them, but mocked the officials by urinating on their feet and squirting breast milk at them...."
Breastfeeding campaign needs to move forward - ithacajournal.com
Mothering Matters
By ELIZABETH BAUCHNER

"Something very wonderful, or something very sad, is about to take place in American breastfeeding politics. For the past year, the Advertising Council -- in conjunction with the Office on Women's Health at the Department of Health and Human Services -- has been developing a national breastfeeding awareness campaign. The campaign, which is scheduled to start by the end of this year, is under fire from formula companies who object to the message of the campaign, which focuses on the risks of not breastfeeding... "
Breast-feeding campaign irks formula groups
Infant-formula industry succeeds in delaying government's advertising effort
By Michael S. Gerber
December 3, 2003
The Hill www.thehill.com

"A government-sponsored public service advertising campaign promoting breast-feeding awareness is the subject of heated debate after complaints about its content by the infant formula industry...."
TheWMURChannel.com - As Seen On News 9 - Breast-Milk Banks Help Mothers, Infants

POSTED: 5:09 p.m. EST December 3, 2003
"LYNEBOROUGH, N.H. -- Mothers who are unable to breast-feed their child can still give the baby breast milk, thanks to breast-milk banks.

Jennifer Connel, of Lyneborough, plans to feed her baby breast milk, but she had breast cancer and a double mastectomy in 2002 at the age of 31. Through a lot of work and research, Connel found a way she can still feed her baby breast milk, but it's not cheap and it's not covered by her health insurance...."

Monday, December 01, 2003

Love's Legacy Saved Many From AIDS
"December 01, 2003

- Steve Sternberg
USA TODAY
"It was his mother's obsession. Nothing mattered more to Elizabeth Glaser and the two close friends who helped her launch the Pediatric AIDS Foundation 15 years ago this past week. Jake, 4, was HIV-positive. Glaser, the wife of actor/writer/director Paul Glaser, knew her son was living on borrowed time. Her 7-year-old daughter, Ariel, had died of AIDS three months earlier. ..."
Vital Signs: Disparities: New Findings on Breast-Feeding
New York Times
By ERIC NAGOURNEY
Published: December 2, 2003
A new study finds little evidence, despite some earlier reports, that breast-feeding reduces a child's risk of high blood pressure in adulthood. 'Our analysis suggests that any effect of breast-feeding on blood pressure is modest and of limited clinical or public health importance,' the study's authors wrote in a report in BMJ, the British medical journal...."