Federal legislation to curb industry marketing practices in the sale of infant formula and to enforce a World Health Assembly code banning the promotion of formula was called for by a Cornell University physician and nutritional scientist. Mothers who don't breastfeed, he claims, endanger their babies' health.

Michael Latham, M.D., professor of international nutrition at Cornell, said he is urging Washington to act to curb what he called "aggressive" marketing and promotion of infant formula in the United States and abroad, which, he said, "violates a basic human right of mothers and babies to give and
receive breastmilk. This violation, which is largely ignored, is harmful to the health, nutritional status, and even the survival of infants all over the world," he said at the National Breastfeeding Policy Conference, sponsored by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, held
last month in Washington, D.C.

"The negative impact that the marketing and promotion of infant formula has on the health of babies in this country can be compared to the deleterious effects that cigarette marketing has on the health of teens and adults." Latham noted that in the 1970s a public outcry over the role of industry in the decline of breastfeeding, accompanied by an increased understanding of the harmful effects of bottle-feeding in developing countries, resulted in the World Health Assembly issuing the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes in 1981. The code prohibits advertising to the
public, free samples to mothers, gifts or personal samples to health workers, and images idealizing formula feeding.

The code, which can be enforced only by national governments, is intended not to restrict women's choice, Latham said, but to enable them to make a fully informed choice, free of industry pressure. Only one country, the
United States, voted against the code. Although Washington has since supported the code at the international level, Latham said that the government has done little to support national breastfeeding initiatives or to enforce the code nationally by passing legislation to restrict certain marketing practices and to close loopholes.The negative health effects of not breastfeeding are finally being recognized, Latham said.

The conference sought to establish, for the first time, a national breastfeeding policy. Diane Wiessinger, an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant and who co-authored the presentation, reported that about 60 percent of U.S. mothers breastfeed their babies at birth, but that
only about 20 percent of infants still receive any breastmilk by six months of age.

"Although breastfeeding has increased in recent years, the gap between scientific and public understanding of the risks associated with not breedfeeding is still very large," she said. According to Latham, widely documented risks of not breastfeeding include reduced IQ, compromised
psychological development, greater rates of ear infections, diarrhea, obesity, allergies and even certain life-threatening illnesses and diseases.
The influential American Academy of Pediatrics published a policy statement in December of 1997 strongly supporting breastfeeding, Latham said.

"Yet, infant formula manufacturers spend billions of dollars marketing to health care professionals because each mother who bottle-feeds represents $800 in sales," he added. "As a result of aggressive and pervasive marketing of infant formula, we have lost a breastfeeding culture in this country in
just a few generations.

Latham also went on to criticize the medical profession, which may unknowingly helped the formula industry by advocating to foster bottle-feeding as superior to breastfeeding.

"The health profession has worked, largely unwittingly, along with the formula industry to render breastfeeding both superior and too serious -- and thus to make it seem unattainable and undesirable. Instead, we need to promote breastfeeding as normal and healthful for mother and baby and as an
expected part of the everyday life of the average human being. Not to do so is hazardous to the health and well-being of the nation's infants," added Latham, who also offered numerous recommendations to promote breastfeeding.

(From National Breastfeeding Policy Conference)

Below are a number of correspondences between Cahterine Young and the powers-that-be in the Canadian Post Office.

Initial Email from Catherine

Canada Post email:

Hello President of Canada Post George Clermont and anyone else concerned:

Canada Post recently produced a 90 cent stamp in the Art Canada series, of the painting byBruno Bobak, called Farmer's Family.

Unfortunately, the farmer is holding a baby bottle.

Canada has adopted the World Health Organization Code,
and section 3 states clearly: no bottles or pacifiers are
to be advertised to pregnant and lactating women.

The 90 cent stamp violates the WHO code.
and must be removed  from public sale at once.

Canada Post Chairman and CEO Georges Clermont:
Canada Post email:
[email protected]
[email protected]

Catherine Young,
The Friends of Breastfeeding Society,
RR#3 Clifford, Ontario, Canada, N0G 1M0
email: [email protected]
tel 519-327-8785

Reply from Jim Philips

From: stampmk[SMTP:[email protected]]
Sent: November 5, 1998 2:57 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Bruno Bobak stamp

Attention Catherine Young:

Dear Catherine:  I have recieved your message to the President of Canada Post regarding the bottle on the Masterpieces of Canadian Art stamp featuring a painting by Bruno Bobak.

Stamps are not advertisments!  They are a means paying postage for the service of delivering mail.  Commemorative stamps, such as the one in question commemorate Candian history, culture, etc and art.  Bruno Bobak's The Farmers Family is a Canadian work of art that just happens to have a bottle within the painting and thus the stamp.

The bottle is not a baby bottle, or at least not a human baby bottle, but rather a bottle for the pig, also on the stamp.  The baby is in fact breast feeding and the male figure is holding a bottle to feed the pig. As far as we know the World Health Organation does not cover bottle feeding and pigs.

Sincerely,

Jim Phillips
Manager, Stamp Marketing
Canada Post Corporation
613-734-7671

Answer from Catherine

Dear Jim:

The 90 cent stamp that is so offensive shows no pig.There is a man, a woman, a baby, and a baby bottle held by theman, against the woman's neck.

For whatever inane reason you chose this piece to commemorate art, you are indeed violating the WHO code, and this stamp must be retracted.

I grew up on a pig farm, and occassionally we did feed orphan pigs artificially. I assure you, in those instances we used a wine bottle and a long rubber teat.  We never used a baby bottle, which would never satisfy a beast.

Please read following email, and don't treat us like fools.

Catherine Young,
Chair, The Friends of Breastfeeding Society
RR#3 Clifford, Ontario, Canada N0G 1M0
tel. 519-327-8785

Rebuttal Letter  from the Director, Stamp Products, Canada Post

To The Friends of Breastfeeding Society:

Re: concerns about the "Farmer's Family" stamp by Bruno Bobak. The image depicted on the stamp shows the mother preparing to breastfeed her child, while the farmer is preparing to feed the baby pig from the bottle. The artist  Mr. Bobak, explained  the bottle is not intended for the human baby. The Masterpiece of Canadian Art stamp is, in fact, supportive of your organization's point of view.
Micheline Montreuil
Director, Stamp Products, Canada Post
[email protected]
Georges Clermont, Director, Canada Post
[email protected]

Catherine's rebuttal to the rebuttal

Dear Micheline, Bruno, and Georges Clermont,
Director of Canada Post:

Next time, get your art from a mother.  The only nipple visible on this stamp, is the one on the dreaded baby bottle, in the farmer's hand under his partner's ear. ( Orphan piglets fed artificially are usually given a wine bottle with a rubber teat, to satisfy their appetite.)  By showing the baby bottle so prominently, and having the recipient pig hidden, your message, Canada Post, violates The World Health Organization Code of marketing of breastmilk substitutes, which Canada has endorsed:

1. Aim: The Code aims to protect and promote breastfeeding.
2. Scope: The Code applies to breastmilk substitutes when marketed or otherwise represented.
3.Advertising: No advertising of formula, bottles, or pacifiers to the public. No promotion of products, no product displays.
4. Information: Information and materials must explain the benefits of breastfeeding, the health hazards associated with bottle feeding and costs of using infant formula.

Please remove the offending stamp from tax payer funded postal facilites. Do it because you now know that when babies are breastfed one year, their mommy's are 40% less likely to be victims of breastcancer, and in Canada, one in eight women get that bad news.  ( Those that breastfeed two or more years are 66% less likely to call breastcancer their illness.) 

And do it because babies who are breastfed one year are going to grow up to be 8.3 IQ points higher than if they were fed another substance in Bruno Bobak's bottle. Or do it to protect future babies from cancer, diabetes, diarrhea, ear infection, emotional neglect, sudden infant death syndrome, urinary tract infection, tonsillectomy, appendicitis, wheeze, colic, allergies, coeliac, hypertrophic pyloric stenosis, ulcerative colitis, crohn's disease, auto-immune diseases of the thyroid, respiratory tract illness, lymphoid hypertrophy, chronic liver disease, high cholestrol, bacteremia, meningitis and the usually fatal bottlefeeding diseaese: necrotizing enterocolitis.

Or do it because breastfeeding moms will be protected from ovarian cancer, osteoporosis and obesity.

Do it, because Canada Post has the capability to reach coast to coast, to Grandparents and schoolchildren and pregnant parents and yep, breastfeeding moms. Do it, because we're living in tough times, when our medical system is on the verge of collapse and although we never could afford the sicknesses associated with Bruno's bottles, we now, more than ever, cannot. Do it because our family support systems caved even before our hospitals, and young parents need direction to parent well.

Do it, Canada Post, because you care.

Catherine Young, Chairmother,
The Friends of Breastfeeding Society
RR#3 Clifford, Ontario, Canada, N0G 1M0

Sesame Goof

On Oct 7th, at 11am, Sesame Park aired a song that goes like this: "You have to eat, to grow up big and healthy" and showed a three month old baby bottlefeeding.

That is a violation of the World Health Code which Canada
adopted: point three__no advertising of breastmilk substitutes,
bottles, pacifiers or baby medicine to pregnant and lacatating
women.

The aim of the code is "To protect and promote breastfeeding
by ensuring appropriate marketing and distribution of breastmilk
substitutes."

Help CBC  rethink their typical bottle-feeding culture mindset that
lumps babies and bottles together and stop them from directing that particular twist toward young minds.Please send them an email with your view on how babies are fed.
CBC's email is : [email protected]

Thanks!
Catherine Young,
Chairmother,
The Friends of Breastfeeding Society
Editor, The Compleat Mother Magazine

11/2/98

Circumcision Motovation

When Marilyn Milos of NOCIRC asked Dr. Thomas Wiswell, one of the U.S.'s major advocates of circumcision, what it would take to change his mind about circumcision he said, "A million dollars!"

When she asked a retired pediatrician, who claims to have done 10,000 circumcisions, if he has changed his mind, he said, "If I changed my mind, I would have to put a gun to my head!"

For a basic information packet on circumcision/genital integrity, send $5 and a SASE to: NOCIRC, P.O. Box 2512, San Anselmo, CA 94979-2512

Parents Sue Over Needles
Herald Sun
2/9/98

Thousands of Australian parents are considering suing the Federal Government and state governments for vaccinating children without their consent.  About 50 have already started legal action, including some parents whose children had adcverse reactions to vaccines.  Parents claimed they were not informed of the risks.

Compensation could run to tens of thousands of dollars for individual cases, predicted Darwin litigation lawyer, Jonathan Nolan.  Mr. Nolan, who claims to be the only lawyer in Australia acting for parents on this issue, said he had been swamped with calls since the Federal Government's vaccination drive began six months ago.

He said families from Victoria, Sourth Australia, the Northern Territory, New South Wales and Tasmania had started legal action, with the first case sue in the Federal Court on October 2.
Several families, including one from Melbourne, claim their children became autistic and two families claim their children were hospitalised for a week after being vaccinated.

Other said their children had been jabbed with re-used needles, risking blood-borne infections or that their attempts to raise their child naturally had been thwarted.

"There are some children it is very inappropriate to vaccinate" said Mr Nolan. Most (parents) are not so concerned about the money, they just want to warn other parents."

The Federal Government's vaccination drive includes a bid to vaccinate 1.75 million children against measles, mumps and rubella by November. resident of the Australian Vaccination Network, Meryl Dorey, said parents were being bullied into agreeing to the injection without being told all the facts.

'One teacher asked a child why his father did not care that he was going to die from measles because he was not vaccinated," she said. "Our phones have been running hot with calls from parents whose children are being harassed and discriminated against in school."

The AVN is taking the Federal Government to the Human Rights Commossion for alleged human rights breaches against parents and children during the vaccination process. A spokesman for federal Health Minister, Michael Wooldridge, declined to
comment.

Meryl W. Dorey,
President
The Australian Vaccination Network, Inc.
PO Box 177 02 6687 1699 Phone
Bangalow NSW 2479 02 6687 2032 FAX
[email protected] http://www.ozemail.com.au/~shotinfo

Any information obtained here is not to be construed as medical OR legal advice. The decision to vaccinate and how you implement that decision is yours and yours alone.

"THE GREAT AMERICAN MILK-IN"

a new bill being introduced next week, and HR 3531, the New Mothers' Breastfeeding Promotion and Protection Act

Here is an update on what's happening with the legislation:

1.  BREASTFEEDING IN PUBLIC
Many of you have asked why the federal government cannot pass laws ensuring the right of women to breastfeed in public (as several states have done).  The response until now has been that the federal government doesn't have jurisdiction over this area.   However, we have been hearing about cases in which women were asked (or told) to stop breastfeeding while they were on federal property.  One instance involved a federal park, another involved the U.S. Capitol building, and yet another involved the Holocaust Museum!  In light of these events, Rep. Maloney has written legislation to ensure a woman's right to breastfeed in public on any federal property (where she and her child have the right to be).  The tentatively-titled "Right to Breastfeed Act" does not yet have a number.  It will get a number assigned when the bill gets introduced.  To gain publicity for this bill, on Friday, September 25, 1998, at 12:00 noon, we will host the "Great American Milk-In" where we'll invite you to come and show your support for breastfeeding moms.
Everyone is invited to join us on the steps of the U.S. Capitol Building. (Come to the South East corner of the building, as there are steps all around the Capitol) The moms who were asked to stop breastfeeding on federal property will tell their stories.  Media is expected, so a good showing will make a big difference!  Children of all ages, posters, banners, signs, etc., and, of course, breastfeeding moms are all welcome.
2.  COPIES OF H.R. 3531
For a copy of the bill, as well as other information about this issue (statistics, bill summary, press release), please visit our website at: www.house.gov/maloney/breast.htm    Much more information will soon be posted on our website, including a list of endorsements, international statistics, a list of state laws on breastfeeding, more detailed summaries of the legislation, and more.  Please be patient.  We'll get the information updated as soon as possible.  In the meantime, we hope to see you on Friday, September 25 at 12 noon for the Great American
Milk-In at the U.S. Capitol.

Hospitals are Dangerous

Dissecting the time patients stay in hospital
saves money and reduces the risk of patients
developing infections by as much as 200 per
cent, a ground-breaking Australian study shows.

Surgery patients who spent an average of 3.2
days at Sydney's Prince of Wales Hospital had
a 16.3 per cent incidence of wound infections.
It was cut to 5.2 per cent for patients who spent
an average of 2.2 days.

"Hospitals are dangerous places," Dr Gideon
Caplan, author of the study, said on labour
day. "They collect the worst bacteria."
                     The Medical Journal of Australia

Cigarette, Formula Ads The Same

Advertising formula is not the same as advertising
diapers or playpens.  It is akin to advertising
cigarettes, banned in Canada and many countries.

Because cigarettes are bad for your health (like
formula); because they are addictive (like formula);
because they are targetted towards vulnerable
people (tobacco towards  children, formula towards
new mothers who are trying to do the best for  their
babies, and infants who cannot defend themselves
from the advertising).

The fact that many mothers use formula is beside
the point.  Many use formula, often, because
they already get too much advertising from too
many people, including health professionals.
Advertising of formula performs no useful function
for the target, as basically all formulas are the same.
For particular health concerns, it should be a  health
professional who should be looking at options with
the parents.

The WHO code bans advertising of formula to the lay
public.  It does not  seem to be generally known that
the formula companies were involved the development
of the WHO code.  They thus agreed that direct
advertising was  unethical.  All countries of the world
also agreed that it was  unethical.  Just because they
don't do anything about it (with few exceptions), does
not make that advertising ethical.

Jack Newman, MD, FRCPC
newman <[email protected]>

Day Care Rotavirus Poop

Daycare enrolled babies often transmit rotavirus to each other "via fecal-oral contact" says William Sears, MD, contributing editor of Parenting, in the July issue. Peak season of the poop-to-mouth illness is November through April, though anytime can be rotavirus time for feces-sharing tots. Diarhea, vomiting, and fever are the symptoms, and usually clear up in five days. Some infected children become dehydrated; 20 died last year in the US.

Breastfeeding mothers who use daycare needn't worry: a protein in breastmilk can inhibit the virus. For those who aren't breastfeeding and don't think eliminating other baby's fecal viruses from their own baby's diet is appropriate, the Rotasheild vaccination will soon be available to inject into the baby at two, four and six months age. Unfortunately, only 50 percent of injected babies will have Rotovirus immunity. Furthermore, it is unclear whether children older than six months will benefit at all, since they should have developed a natural immunity by then.

In the meantime, Parenting advises parents to bleach the change table three times a week and make sure the daycare of choice has a hand-washing policy to lessen the chance of another daycare baby's poo being your baby's first solids.

(Ed. Or breastfeed baby at home and enroll a Rotashield injected Dr Sears in the daycare centre with a disinfected copy of Parenting, after washing his hands.)  

Danger : Groceries

Over one million acres of genetically-engineered soybean crops are now being harvested, posing a serious health risk to consumers. Gene tinkering allows the crop to be doused with additional toxic chemicals. A worldwide boycott of biotech which contain genetically-altered soybeans or corn has been called for:

Coca Cola
Similac Formula
Draft Salad Dressings
Quaker Oats Corn Meal
Green Giant Harvest Burgers
Nestle Crunch
McDonalds French Fries
Fleishmann's margarine
Karo Corn Syrup
Alive Magazine, #170

Breastfeeding and Brains

by John Horwood and David M. Fergusson

Christchurch School of Medicine, Christchurch, New Zealand

A study of 1000 New Zealand children over an 18 year course Method.  During the period from birth to age 1 year, information was collected on maternal breastfeeding practices. Over the period from 8 to 18 years, sample members were assessed on a range of measures of cognitive and academic outcomes including measures of child intelligence quotient; teacher ratings of school performance; standardized tests of reading comprehension, mathematics, and scholastic ability; pass rates in school leaving examinations; and leaving school without qualifications.

Results.  Increasing duration of breastfeeding was associated with consistent and statistically significant increases in:

1) intelligence quotient assessed at ages 8 and 9 years;
2) reading comprehension, mathematical ability, and scholastic ability assessed during the period from 10 to 13 years;
3) teacher ratings of reading and mathematics assessed at 8 and 12 years;
4) higher levels of attainment in school leaving examinations.

Children who were breastfed for 8 months had mean test scores that were between 0.35 and 0.59 SD units higher than children who were bottle-fed. Mothers who elected to breastfeed tended to be older; better educated; from upper socioeconomic status families; were in a two-parent family; did not smoke during pregnancy; and experienced above average income and living standards. Additionally, rates of breastfeeding increased with increasing birth weight, and first-born children were more likely to be breastfed.

Regression adjustment for maternal and other factors associated with breastfeeding reduced the associations between breastfeeding and cognitive or educational outcomes. Nonetheless, in 10 of the 12 models, fitted duration of breastfeeding remained a significant predictor of later cognitive or educational outcomes. After adjustment for confounding factors, children who were breastfed for 8 months had mean test scores that were between 0.11 and 0.30 SD units higher than those not breastfed.

Conclusions.  It is concluded that breastfeeding is associated with small but detectable increases in child cognitive ability and educational achievement. These effects are 1) pervasive, being reflected in a range of measures including standardized tests, teacher ratings, and academic outcomes in high school; and 2) relatively long-lived, extending throughout childhood into young adulthood. 

Crying Over You

Some people's babies cry more than others, said Ronald Barr of McGill University in Montreal. Comparing data collected from a group of breastfeeding mothers in The Netherlands with that from a group of !Kung San mothers in Botswana, he found the San babies cried half as much as the Dutch babies.

The difference, Barr said, is probably due to the two cultures' different feeding routines. San mothers breastfeed their infants in a "continuous" fashion - giving them feed for a minute or two every 15 minutes. Western mothers feed their babies less frequently, but for longer. In addition, San infants are carried in slings, and are in constant contact with their mothers.

Barr also studied a large group of American mothers in the Boston area, some of whom were strong proponents of frequent breastfeeding, and others who were not. The babies who were fed frequently did not cry as much as babies who were fed less often, he found. Barr has evidence that this difference is due both to the psychological calming effect of breastfeeding and to the more frequent supply of nutrients.

Barr's findings add to a growing body of literature suggesting that the familiar problems of child-rearing - endless crying and battles to establish regular sleep patterns - are not as ubiquitous as was once thought. For instance, another researcher has found that Dutch babies sleep more hours per day and cry less when awake than American babies - perhaps because Dutch culture stresses the importance of routine and rest in child-rearing, whereas American culture stresses the importance of sensory stimulation. Neither approach is necessarily superior.

"I think what my studies show is that we have lots of room for maneuver when deciding what to do about breastfeeding," said Barr. "Chances are, infants in our society are going to cry a heck of a lot more than they do in the !Kung San. If mothers want to try feeding more often, it's a perfectly appropriate thing to do."

Raspberry has long been established as a remedy for dysentry and diarrhea. It is mild, pleasant, soothing. It will remove cankers from mucous membranes, at the same time toning the tissue involved, be it of the throat (as a gargle) or alimentary tract. It is much used in relief ofurethral irritation and is soothing to the kidneys, urinary tract, and ducts.

Raspberry is a useful solution for the uterus and to stop hemorrhages. Raspberry leaf tea can be taken freely before and after confinement; it will strengthen and prevent miscarriage and render parturition lesslaborious. The infusion will also relieve painful menstration and aid the flow; if too abundant it will decrease without abruptly stopping it .

In Russia, Malina covers vast areas of the country and is employed for colds, coughs and difficulty breathing.

A Handbook of Native American Herbs, by Alma R Hutchens,