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Looking for The Lactivist? She's retired. But you CAN still find Jen blogging. These days, she's runs A Flexible Life. Join her for life, recipes, projects and the occasional rant.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

If you are coming in to The Lactivist Blog via the post about The International Breast Milk Project on Fark, let me say welcome!

Yes, there actually IS a blog about breastfeeding, though it's probably not what you're expecting. (We've got a sense of humor around here folks...)I hope you'll stick around and check things out.

No, you can't read my original comments anymore on the OC Register site. Why? Well, apparently you only need two people to vote against your comment and it's taken down. Way to support free speech OC Register! (I've reposted the comments, but who knows how long they'll stay up this time?)

Anyway, here's what I'd written:

I'm curious to know if you were aware of the fact that Prolacta (the backer of the IMBP) does not actually ship all of the milk collected for the IMBP to the orphans in Africa?

I questioned Prolacta's lack of transparency about how much collected milk they were shipping earlier this year at The Lactivist.

In response to those questions, Prolacta enacted a new policy that they outlined in an open letter to the community. http://www.breastmilkproject.org/ibmp_letter.php

I'd specifically note the following:

"25% of all donated breast milk—an estimated 25,000 ounces each year—will be screened, tested, and shipped by Prolacta each year for free. When you donate milk, Prolacta will segregate 25% of your milk to go to Africa, so every mom knows that some of her milk is going to help babies orphaned by poverty and disease in Africa."

That means that 75% of milk being donated for African orphans is being kept by Prolacta to process and sell as they wish.

While I fully support the right of each mom to donate or give her milk to any organization that she chooses, it's been my experience that most donor moms simply have no idea that all of their milk is not being sent to African babies. I'm disheartened to see an article that so strongly supports the IMBP without sharing with readers the true data about how much donated milk actually reaches these babies.

I'd encourage readers that wish to donate breast milk to an organization that processes and ships 100% of collected milk without making ANY profit to contact the Human Milk Banking Association of North America (HMBANA), the only fully non-profit milk banks in service today.

A few links here on the site that might interest you...

1.) Find out how and why the Lactivist got started

2.) Check out my hilarious run-in with a crazy trademark lawyer from The National Pork Board.

4.) Read my post calling out the International Breast Milk Project earlier this year.

5.) Read my response to the IMBP's new policies based on my post questioning them.

6.) Check out my Fark-worthy pro-breastfeeding t-shirts. Where else can you buy a mom's shirt that reads "That's My Baby's Lunch You're Staring At" or a dad's shirt that says "I Play With My Baby's Food?"

Labels: All About the Site

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