Money over health, even.
This article in the WP today: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20523460/ talks about the ways and reasons that the baby formula industry quashed the governments attempts at increasing the rates of women who choose to breastfeed.
The government health agencies are well aware of the risks of formula and the benefits of breastfeeding. The reality is that there is a significant segment of the population that doesn’t know this. The reason they don’t know is because the formula companies work very hard keeping it that way.
Oh yeah, all the formula ads say in the fine print “Breast is best” and then go on to say how their product is just as good. It’s not. In fact, it can be detrimental to a baby’s current and future health. When cigarettes became popular, they were smoked, I assume, for various reasons including the relaxation benefits, the “cool” factor and other reasons. The immediate benefits outweighed the long term risks (addiction, cancer etc). No one cared about the long term effects. In my opinion, we are seeing the same thing happening. The formula companies like to promote the “benefits”: no pain, less colic (not true), mom’s ability to leave the baby (don’t even get me started on this one), dad can be involved…blah blah blah. And in making these “benefits” sound so good, no one cares about the immediate and long term effects on a baby’s health.
Guess what? There’s no tangible money in breastfeeding. There for, proponents of it don’t have the resources to hire lobbyists and pepper tv and magazines and billboards and dr’s offices, and hospitals with advertising and giveaways. All we can do is scream loud and long until our mouths are smothered by the hands of those with money.
