Saturday, January 25, 2014

Human milk: The Mother of Inventions


                       "Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz.
                        My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends.
                        Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends.
                        So oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz."
                              -written by:  Janis Joplin, Michael McClure,& Bob Neuwirth

How could I forget those times?  Janis Joplin wailing over the radio and riding around in borrowed cars in heavy traffic.  It was the summer before I headed off to college.  Working in a motorcycle parts warehouse was really boring but it had its moments of fun.  We all had our dreams and time to dream them.  Making money and spending it.  Dreaming about the car I would buy.  I wanted a Karmann-Ghia, preferably a convertible.  Pricy for me, couldn't afford it.  I laugh now; it was about $3000.  It was way beyond my meager income.  And then I went away to college.  I sort of forgot about the car dreams and found myself in a very different world.  It was a world of thought, textbooks, a dash of beer and a chaser of wild turkey.  And it was about late night discussions about world politics, Vietnam, protest, and a world gone mad.  It was life-changing in many ways.  But in many ways it was as isolating as my dreams of owning a purple Karmann-Ghia.  Are we directing our dreams?  Or do our dreams create us?  How much of consumerism is embedded in our youthful dreams?  How much rationality and understanding do we have as teenagers?  Why do we want what we want?  How much of our wants are being directed by market forces or advertising?  Are our minds free to think or are we drowning in the cacophony of the social media likes and dislikes?  How much is too much?  And what price are we paying for our concrete, digitized world of sound bytes and twitter feeds?

Well, I must admit to myself, that the world is getting more than freaky.  Its like entering a science fiction novel and finding out that its not fiction--its science!!!
Its consumerism gone mad.  Its the mad-hatter of maddness.  Loney-tune city and daffy duck rolled into one comedy-hour.  And everyone walking and talking like life is normal.  Seriously and sincerely, we will be making diapers based on human milk oligosaccharides.  Proctor & Gamble has a patent application entitled, "Substrate Comprising One or More Human Milk Oligosaccharides and Disposable Absorbent Article Comprising the Substrate," #20130281948. It is also a European Patent Application EP12165272.0.     The application states, "It is generally known that skin covered by disposable absorbent articles tend to be more susceptible to skin disorders, including diaper rash, erythema (i.e., reddness), heat rash, abrasion, pressure marks and loss of skin barrier function."  So the answer is, "One or more human milk oligosaccharides may act either by attachment to the receptors of harmful pathogenic microorganisms and render these microorganisms harmless."  The example they use of a pathogenic microorganism is Candida albicans.  Ta-da!!!Presto-chang-o, with the magical application of human milk oligosaccharides we will create a better, safer product.  Sound familiar?  This patent application is also directed at making disposable tampons, sanitary napkins and adult diapers.  

Human milk, the mother of inventions....buy, sell, trade.  No wonder the NJ legislature wants to control milk banking, its an investment that keeps on giving.  Oh yeah, the diaper invention,  probably a gmo product, can't imagine there is enough real human milk oligosaccharides at your local milk bank. Although maybe someday in the future?  I can just see the advertisement for diapers with Human Milk Oligosaccharides.  Because women can't or won't breastfeed, we are creating this product to protect your baby's butt from harmful pathogens.  It's organic, it's natural!!!!! Mother Nature's protective shield...  What a sad indictment of our society that women will reject this substance while the corporate world enshrines and markets it!!
Copyright 2014 Valerie W. McClain

 
 

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