O aleitamento materno: ainda uma questão nos EUA.

Na semana anterior, houve mais um "acontecimento" na zona leste de São Paulo a favor do aleitamento materno. Confesso que assustei vendo a motoniveladora passando por cima de mamadeiras e latas de leite em pó. Mas, vale pela boa causa que representa. Hoje, The Washington Post noticia a campanha pelo aleitamento materno nos Estados Unidos. A situação lá é pior do que a brasileira, principalmente pela menor cobertura trabalhista no pós-parto.

Abaixo, o comentário de Jacob Goldstein, blogueiro do The Wall Street Journal.

To persuade more women to breastfeed, federal health officials planned an ad campaign featuring stark images and warning that babies who aren’t breastfed are more likely on average to have certain health problems. The baby formula industry hired big-time lobbyists to object, and cold and prickly images .C ongress is investigating the shifting ad campaign as part of its broader look into claims by former surgeon general Richard Carmona that he was sometimes muzzled by the Bush administration. One of the department of Health and Human Services’ stated goals for the decade is to increase the percentage of women who breastfeed their babies; a CDC report earlier this year found that rates are indeed increasing, but are still short of targets set by HHS. The president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Carden Johnston, was among those approached by industry representatives, who argued that the campaign would needlessly frighten women and make those who were unable to breastfeed feel guilty. Johnston, apparently persuaded by their arguments, said in a letter to the HHS secretary that “we have some concerns about this negative approach and how it will be received by the general public.”
But in a separate letter, the head of the pediatrics group’s breastfeeding section said he had been unaware of Johnston’s letter and didn’t agree with its contents. (The AAP’s strong support of breastfeeding is evident in this position paper.) “This campaign needed to be much stronger than it was,” he told the Post.