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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTrump Uses His "Gangster-Tactics" in Defense of Diarrhea, And to Hell With the Children
Yes, I know that the first thing that comes to mind when I mention "Trump" and "diarrhea" is diarrhea of the mouth. Or of the (tiny) fingertips. But it turns out that Trump seriously loves diarrhea. Especially diarrhea illness in third world babies, a leading cause of infant mortality in those countries. How do I know? Because his administration is trying to torpedo a world resolution in support of breast feeding. Using the "gangster-style" tactics that it earned it such great press in North Korea.
The U.S. officials wanted delegates at the U.N.-affiliated World Health Assembly to tone down the resolution in what looked like an effort to side with manufacturers of infant formula. Specifically, they wanted the document to not include language that would call on countries to protect, promote, and support breastfeeding while also slashing calls to restrict marketing of food products that are seen as detrimental for young children.
Ecuador had planned to introduce the measure but after threats of economic retaliation it decided to drop the initiative. Advocates then began searching for another sponsor but at least a dozen countries, most of them poor nations in Africa and Latin America, backed off, citing fears of retaliation, reports the New York Times. Russia then took up the issue and decided to introduce the resolution. The American officials did not threaten Russia.
We were astonished, appalled and also saddened, said Patti Rundall, the policy director of the British advocacy group Baby Milk Action. What happened was tantamount to blackmail.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/07/trump-administration-shocks-global-health-officials-by-opposing-pro-breastfeeding-resolution.html
Breast mild is loaded with healthful antibodies to bolster the baby's resistance to infection. Plus, since no tap water (or creek water or polluted lake water) is used as with formula, there is no chance that the baby will become infected with one of the pathogens that can easily dehydrate and kill a tiny human. So, anyone who opposes a resolution supporting breast feeding, must be worried about the negative consequences that it will have on diarrhea illness. Poor diarrhea bugs. They never get a break. And anyone who is willing to use blackmail and other "gangster-tactics" against breast feeding must have a serious hard-on for diarrhea.
Hmm. Could it be a fetish thing? Do we have something worse than the "pee tape" to look forward to?
Ok, enough humor. We all know who hates breast milk. The manufacturers of formula. And the biggest, meanest, baddest manufacturer of formula is based out of Switzerland. I am talking about Nestle. And guess who was at the Big Business meeting with Trump this year? Mark Schneider, CEO of Nestle.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-dinner-european-business-leaders/
Nestle, as in the company that the federal government continues to allow to pump water from federal forests in California despite that state's drought. Did you know that Nestles has a huge business selling bottled water that it gets for free? Just kidding. Nothing is ever "free." Obviously someone's palm is getting greased. Must be great being president and getting to sell someone else's water for a small kickback. Or kill third world children for money. But it is never enough, not if you are Trump. No wonder he wants to give himself the power to impose new tariffs on any item imported into the US, the so called "FART Act" (so much scat! Did he suffer from traumatic potty training as a child?). Though a long shot, the FART Act would provide the Trump family with a steady stream of bribes, at a time when they really need to make some money, their days in the White House being numbered.
Now, to be fair to Trump I don't think that he hates babies. Not even third world babies. I just think he loves money so much that he would rip a child from its mother's arms and ignore its tears if someone paid him enough money for the right to foster that child for $700 a day. And I think that he will turn a blind eye to deaths like this:
If there is money in it for him. Offer him enough cash and he will even whip out his infamous "gangster-tactics" to make sure that those third world babies drink their diarrhea pathogen laden formula--for the good of the Swiss economy and the Trump family bank account.
P.S.Since Nestles is going to object to being told that its product promotes third world infant diarrhea and kills babies, I will now post some links to stuff that everyone who has not been living in a cave for the last one hundred years knows. I am not trying to insult anyone's intelligence. I just know how these forums work, and someone from the infant formula industry is going to show up demanding proof that breast feeding prevents diarrhea. Here goes. Death by expert reliable peer reviewed research:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4036098/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20196384
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9133818
htuttle
(23,738 posts)Gothmog
(144,876 posts)Tucker08087
(621 posts)As an adoptive mother, I was pretty much tortured by the medical community for using formula. My 2 month premature newborn was not able to keep anything down. His digestive system was simply not ready. He had a host of other issues as well. I was told that stimulation of the nipples could cause me to lactate. Enough to feed him? Well, no. Just some secretion. Will it help him? Probably not. How about hiring a milk nurse? Will that help him? Well, she wouldnt be able to give him the antibodies that are given from the mother and are helpful to a newborn, so probably not. But more children die from SIDS when they are on formula than mothers milk. Even if its not the babys actual mother? There may not be much difference between Enfamil and ANOTHER womans breast milk. There is no research on that. There is a higher rate in autism with children on formula. Compared to breast milk or natural mothers milk? Mothers milk. Oh and the actual size of a babys brain is larger if the child is breastfed until 2. By ANYONE? No. By the mother. Im not the birth mother. We know, but we have to tell you.
My baby was sick and I was desperate. I would have ridiculously forced him to latch on for no nurishment at all if there was any proof that it would have helped.
I hate Trump. I hate this ridiculous policy, bowing to corporations above people, but there needs to be some understanding that formula isnt always bad.
By the way, hes 15, six foot one, and has all As in school, although in all honesty he does exhibit signs of Aspergers.
blogslut
(37,980 posts)The corporations that manufacture it deserve all the scorn. They make over-inflated health claims, they make deals with hospitals and doctors to push formula over breastfeeding to new mothers and, their safe-manufacture practices, especially in poor nations, are not good.
When I was a new mother to a preemie in the 80s, a can of powdered formula cost $5. A few years ago I decided to look at the current price of the same powdered formula. It was almost $20. I broke down and cried.
Tucker08087
(621 posts)I couldnt use canned formula. It was $5 a bottle for what was, in the early months, a bottle a day for the formula they suggested. Hes a big kid. Once we passed the preemie scare, he was always double the normal size, and I was paying $10-$15 a day for the specialized formula they said to buy. Now I practically pay that for school lunch! Lol! He just turned 15, is six foot one, built like a linebacker, and I would worry that he might eat our cats except hes a vegetarian!
By the way, a close friend had a baby around the same time, and she was very active in the Le Leche League. She offered to pump for me, but after doing research also found that there was really no benefit at that point. (I had to live in his birth state for 2 months due to both medical and legal issues, and the benefits significantly drop after that much time on formula.)
Im not sure if things have changed, or if it was the state where he was born, but I will stop very short of calling their breast is best tactics terrorism. I had no way to get him his birth mothers milk, yet they (medical people) constantly threatened everything from illness to actual death if I didnt find a way to breast feed. Although, if it works and you can, (and I also know natural mothers who couldnt and were also tortured for their inept mothering abilities) I do agree that breast is best.
McCamy Taylor
(19,240 posts)They will flame a company that tries to tell a birth mother with normal milk that powder plus non sterile water is better. If you have a computer, I am guessing you have access to fresh water and a stove--all that is needed to make formula safe. Many third world women do not have those luxuries. For them, formula is much too risky.
Formula should only be for when there is no natural milk. There are plenty of situations when that happens--but formula manufacturers get greedy and want to sell more. Like drug companies that try to push their products "off label."
Tucker08087
(621 posts)If I hadnt been so absolutely enraged by their pushing the issue, I probably would have discovered some drug they were pushing to help me to lactate.
People are ridiculous when it comes to the prude reactions to breast feeding. And the religious community, who should be full of wonder at the amazing ability of parents to feed their young without help from anyone, are the most prudish. Im a spiritual person. I know its not always popular here, but I believe in a higher power. And the ability of creatures on our planet to create and sustain new life is simply miraculous to me. How anyone could see something dirty in a mother feeding her child is beyond me.
McCamy Taylor
(19,240 posts)a union leader who objected to their union busting tactics.
https://www.dw.com/en/nestle-under-fire-over-colombian-murder/a-16195009
In the face of serious threats, Romero temporarily went into exile in Spain through an organized protection program. Once that expired, he returned to Colombia in 2005 and filed a complaint against the termination of his contract.
"At the same time, he prepared for a public witness hearing in Switzerland regarding working conditions at Nestle's Colombian subsidiary," Müller-Hoff said.
But he was never able to testify. Shortly before the hearing, Romero was abducted by members of a paramilitary death squad and tortured to death.
The paramilitaries were caught and sentenced by a Colombian court. In his verdict, the judge concluded it was impossible that the group acted on its own. The judge ordered the state prosecutor to "investigate leading managers of Nestle-Cicolac to clarify their likely involvement and/or planning of the murder of union leader Luciano Enrique Romero Molina."