The Case Against Infant-formula-feeding, part 2

Sunset.....

Would you ever see an article entitled, "The Case Against Infant-formula-feeding" in magazines or newspapers? Nope. There is enormous monetary interest in sustaining the infant formula industry and by default the dairy and biotech industries that provide the ingredients for the receipes made for babies around the world. They control the media. In this New Age we have biotech central's receipes, made in factories around the world. The need for human milk components (the gold standard for the infant formula industry) has encouraged a great deal of creativity. Hey, you there, woman of the world, we can make something equal to your mammary gland. We can take an algae or fungi, clone it, ferment it, cut it with hexane, clarify it with acetone and presto-chango we have DHA and ARA. Its the same thing you women produce in your mammary gland (wink-wink, the smile of the used car salesman). And we the gullible public believe it because we are bombarded by article after article espousing the virtues of DHA and ARA. We have a deficiency....a deficiency...a deficiency...we need DHA and ARA....the words roll on into our brain, a yoga mantra brought to you by our friends from space science, Martek Bioscience. Yes, our space programs have brought us some marvelous inventions. So algae and fungi, as space foods brought to earth seems rather bizarre but cute. Fish eat algae, right? So it can't be all that bad. And let me see what eats fungi?? Oh yeah formula-fed babies who need their ARA. Children in Africa are starving so ya better drink up that algae and fungi--made specially for you.

Probiotics....giggling now, you really don't want to know how our modern darlings of functional foods make probiotics do you? Let's talk microbe hunting and the exciting adventures of finding bacteria in the most interesting places. Nestle has one patent in which they found their bacteria in breastfed baby poop. They cloned it and have it at the ATCC. They aren't the only ones. So pass the breastfed baby poop bacteria. Here's to functional food!!!!! Hey I use to eat yogurt, haven't had yogurt or acidophilus since reading that patent gem. Let's talk about how ya influence the next generation of university-trained students. Nestle USA had a medical researcher who was also a nutrition professor at the John Hopkins Medical School. His research--probiotics. That my friends happens alot. I gather that universities don't pay well enough, so moonlighting happens. Not a bad situation for the corporate business world who can influence generations. But not a wonderful gift for freedom of thought, freedom from corporate interests.

This is for Hanna Rosin. Look up patent #7230078 called, "Soluble toll-like receptor," at the US Patent & Trademark Office

http://www.uspto.gov/patft/

Its a Nestec S.A. (Nestle) patent. Inventors are Eduardo Schiffrin et al. "It is particularly surprising that a soluble variant of a protein known as a transmembrane protein was found in human milk." and this Toll-like transmembrane proteins "play a crucial role in the regulation of immune responses of mammals, especially of immune responses against bacterial conserved molecules present in the intestinal tracts of mammals." It will be used as a medicine, a cosmetic, a therapy.

"The sTLRR of the present invention may be obtained from human milk, especially during the early stages of lactation."

Interesting...Nestle seems to believe that there is a protein in human milk that regulates immunity and that this will provide a tool for Nestle to regulate inflammation. Wow...what do you believe and why do you believe it? Look at the patents and patent applications on human milk components (2000 and increasing daily) and we believe that the "choice" of whether to breastfeed or not is an equal one. While industry scrambles to own the components of human milk in order to improve our immune system, we are given articles like Rosin's to read. I have been writing about this for 10 years and the silence particularly from breastfeeding advocates is well...astonishing. I guess we all believe what we want to believe.

Nestle isn't the only company patenting. We have Pharmasurgics from Sweden with patent # 7253143 called "Peptides based on the sequence of human lactoferrin and their use." Human lactoferrin is a component of human milk and this invention will treat and prevent infections, inflammations and tumors and be used in INFANT FORMULA. The inventors are Lars Hanson et al.

Are we witnessing the sunset of breastfeeding? Breastfeeding advocates have for years self-monitored themselves--don't talk about the RISKS of INFANT FORMULA. Instead focus on the benefits of breastfeeding. Instead talk about the risks of not breastfeeding. What? That means there are risks to breastfeeding. Why say that except to be politically correct in a hostile environment? Yes, politically correct to the point of extinction.....seeing the sunset, the pinks, the coolness, the end of the day.

Copyright 2009 Valerie W. McClain

The Case Against Infant-formula-feeding

photo by Jessie McClain

Those darn beavers damning up "our" river!! Just like people they take a good thing and create mayhem. But if it weren't for those damn beavers....

The complex weave of life on this planet effects us all. Add a few billion humans who think they know what it's all about, and we have become a planet on the verge of environmental collapse. So what's that got to do with breastfeeding and the article, "The Case Against Breastfeeding?" Nothing and everything. The case against infant-formula-feeding is compelling for those who are environmentally aware of the degradation of the planet. Pile up those empty cans, plastic bottles, and various containers of artificial baby milks in our landfills. Add those bottles and plastic nipples and pacifiers to the mix, and let's see how fast they degrade. Support and push the dairy industry so that our babies will be fed milk from another species. Support your local landfill, bottlefeed your baby.
How much does infant formula really cost? In terms of buying it at the store, and in the need for easy access to medical facilities. Because let's face it babies fed infant formula are sicker. I worked in the WIC program for 4 years. I encountered many mothers who told me regretfully that right after they weaned their babies from the breast their babies got sick. I used that moment to talk about relactation but mothers while interested in the idea had issues that made continued breastfeeding a problem for them. Sometimes it was employment but sometimes it was a member of the family who was pressuring the mother to quit. Sometimes it was because the pediatrician advised them to quit. Mothers noticed that once their infant stopped breastfeeding, their healthy infant got sick. Just mere coincidence? I'd like to see a study done on this issue.
Rosin in her case against breastfeeding writes, "...by insisting that milk is some kind of vaccine, they make it less likely that we'll experience nursing primarily as a loving maternal act..."
Not. One of the most interesting aspects of my experience of breastfeeding was that I breastfed to save money. Yes a very utilitarian motive but I am from the working class and our motivations are quite different from those who are middle class. I got hooked on breastfeeding. Breastfeeding worked its magic on me. It became less and less about the money I would save and more about how I felt about my baby. Even Rosin got hooked with breastfeeding despite her belief that its no better than using infant formula. She hasn't quit yet. I once had a mom tell me that she had 5 children. The first 4 she bottlefed. The last one she breastfed because it was going to be her last child. She whispered to me, that she was afraid she loved her last child more than her others. What magic is this? How can we love our breastfed children more? Is this unusual? I had major difficulties breastfeeding my first baby and quit breastfeeding for about a month and then relactated. While I was bottlefeeding I felt an enormous distance develop between myself and my baby. Upon relactation, I felt that huge gulf between us disappear. What do we believe? Breastfeeding is certainly magical but we don't need to tell women this. We just have to let them do it. Oxytocin works wonders on the body.
As for Rosin's dismissal of breastfeeding being some kind of vaccine, I am amused. She should go interview a company called Glycom APS in Denmark. They are using their understanding of carbohydrate chemistry to produce human milk oligosaccharides (genetically engineered) for use in infant formula and functional foods and also in the development of vaccines. In 2006 they entered into an agreement with Nestle Nutrition. Another biotech company, Agennix, plans on using human lactoferrin genetically engineered as a vaccine against cancer. Some companies are using HMFG (human milk fat globule genetically engineered and the real thing) in vaccines. But Rosin feels that breastfeeding advocates should not use the word vaccine. Industry can use human milk components as vaccines. But heaven forbid breastfeeding advocates talk about breastfeeding as being a continuous vaccination. Instead we can just go and spend some money and get the vaccine that imitates the real thing.
Copyright 2009 Valerie W. McClain