Couldn't agree more Anne There are many ways to sponsor a lunch or education session without falling into the marketing trap of the multi national formula companies. Other health professionals manage to attend professional development without resorting to this funding method. Although there may (and I question this- most are a cows milk based product to which additives have been made in an attempt to mimic breastmilk- over the years, various additives have been trailed and removed. Lots of human 'guinea pigs' growing up in our communities) be an argument for MCHN to be informed of the contents of formula tins, all this info is available on the side of each tin, or can be gathered from promotional material that formula companies are only too keen to distribute and can be kept in file out of sight in her office. I believe that any woman who chooses to artificial feed her infant should do the research and choose which formula to use without any guidance by health professionals(except directions on where to go eg chemist, local supermarket)- unless there is a specific need to use a hypoallergenic formula in which case the infant will be under the care of a paediatrician as well as the MCHN.
We are often visited by the local Wyeth rep- he now latches onto any staff member he has not seen before and will leave lovely brochures, ads for education sessions, at the end of the year he leaves, calendars and diaries- they all end up in the bin. If he attempts this with staff who are aware he gets nowhere and his products are not accepted. If a staff member has unwittingly accepted info, she is provided with info on the marketing of infant formula and the many unacceptable and clever methods of marketing. Our staff may not like it when I remove their 'goodies' but they do understand the basis. We are not BFHI (yet) but follow most of the guidelines, maybe this is why we are so aware of the APMAIF guidelines- it isn't always easy for a busy maternity unit with many staff, but I would imagine it could be manageable in a MCHN setting Cheers Alesa Alesa Koziol Clinical Midwifery Educator Melbourne ----- Original Message ----- From: "Anne Clarke" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, September 04, 2004 10:40 PM Subject: [ozmidwifery] Formula companies and sponsoring child health nurses lunches/conferences > Dear All, > > To say that you need to have the formula companies sponsor a conference to > be able to learn about formula etc is like the anti cancer council asking > Benson & Hedges to sponsor their conference so they can learn more about > cigarettes! > > Regards, > Anne Clarke > Chair - BFHI Queensland > > -- > This mailing list is sponsored by ACE Graphics. > Visit <http://www.acegraphics.com.au> to subscribe or unsubscribe. > -- This mailing list is sponsored by ACE Graphics. Visit <http://www.acegraphics.com.au> to subscribe or unsubscribe.
