The US is Against Breast Feeding
The nations of the world gathered together in Geneva for the World Health Assembly this spring. The Assembly is the driving force behind the United Nation’s World Health Organization, the leading agency involving in improving life expectancy and battling disease, particularly in the under-developed nations.
The Assembly was preparing to pass a resolution endorsing mothers breast feeding their babies. The resolution didn’t say that mothers shouldn’t use formula, it simply said that all of the scientific evidence showed that breast feeding was the best, if possible. It was a “no brainer” to pass, and Ecuador sponsored the resolution.
The United States opposed it. The US delegation tried to water down the language, ignoring the science. And when they couldn’t get that done, the US threatened Ecuador with removing military aid and adding punishing trade measures. Ecuador, of course, backed down.
There is a lot of concern that the current President is “ignorant” of science; willing to discount scientific facts. To many of its opponents, the Trump Administration flies in the face of common sense when it comes to issues like climate change, pollution, and now, breast feeding. But the Administration isn’t working from ignorance.
It’s about money.
It’s about Nestle (that’s Gerber) and Abbott Labs and Bristol-Myers Squibb. These are the formula manufacturers who saw the World Health Assembly resolution as a threat to their world markets. Regardless of the science, the US delegation to the Assembly was more interested in sales, then in the health of the world. And it wasn’t just a “good fight” effort, the US threatened and bullied Ecuador into dropping the resolution (ironically, picked up and pushed through by Russia – they didn’t like to see little countries bullied. The US didn’t threaten them.)
The same can be said for many of the changes the Environmental Protection Agency is trying to make to pollution regulations. From allowing greater emissions from chemical plants to automobiles; the Trump Administration is making sure oil, chemical and car companies can maximize profits. The theory: if business is doing well, the economy will do well. It worked in the 1950’s.
In the 1950’s the US expanded manufacturing at the expense of the environment. While the 1950’s are now looked back (by some) with nostalgia; forgotten are the smog alerts, the burning rivers, the dying lake and streams and the abandoned towns. We traded those things for a “better economy,” and paid the price with two generations of cleanup. That work still is not complete.
We are well on the way to creating that environmental damage again. The Trump Administration is taking the short-term profits against the long-term damage. But it’s not out of ignorance. It’s the groups like the Koch Brothers, millions of dollars in political support, that has bought this policy. Koch Industries, a major petro-chemical company, gets what it wants by buying politicians. They aren’t the only one, the car industry, the chemical industry, the petroleum industry and the baby formula industry are all putting their money on the line.
There’s not a lot of political money coming from the “environmental” side of the equation. There’s not a lot of support to be had from the “breast feeding lobby.” So the current Administration has no problem aggressively trading the future for the present. Ask Ecuador.
What are the long-term consequences? The United States is now ignoring global warming, having scrubbed the term from many government websites. There is no scientific argument: human pollution is a direct contributor to warming. Warming is changing our environment, from more powerful storms and droughts, to rising ocean levels that threaten our coasts. We are losing the opportunity to deflect even greater changes by allowing greater pollution. But that doesn’t matter.
And it doesn’t matter that third-world nations won’t receive support to encourage women to breast feed their children, even if it will make those children healthier. The Trump Administration has made it clear – short-term profit is much more important.
