I have forwarded this to Margaret Callaghan ( in
the article)- she is a fabulous LC - a past pres of ALCA a few
years ago.
Haven't heard anything recently re milk bank
proposal. I think Marg is in NZ at present so we may not hear for a
while.
Pinky
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, August 21, 2005 6:08
PM
Subject: Re: [ozmidwifery] Human Milk
Bank
Hmmm. Well I haven't heard
anything about it and I'm in contact with many lactavists who'd love this. I
shall do some investigating! Anyone know the LC in the article?
J
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, August 21, 2005 6:02
PM
Subject: [ozmidwifery] Human Milk
Bank
This was on the list earlier this
year.....
Helen Cahill
Australia's first milk bank August 12,
2004 - 1:06PM
Australia's first milk bank is to start offering
breast milk to new mothers in Victoria from the beginning of next
year.
Melbourne-based lactation consultant Margaret Callaghan plans
to open the private service which will pasteurise milk donations and
offer them to mothers who cannot produce enough for their own
babies.
The proposal has raised questions about how the new service
would be regulated.
Ms Callaghan said the private company
setting up the Victorian milk bank planned to set up in NSW next and
then to establish clinics nationwide.
She said new mothers who
wanted to donate would be screened for disease and would then express
the milk at home.
"It wouldn't be like a cow shed," she
said.
The milk would be pasteurised and given to premature babies
whose mothers for some reason could not provide enough
milk.
Premature babies would be targeted initially as they were the
most likely to suffer necrotising enterocolitis (NEC), or bowel
blockages, after being fed formula, she said.
Mothers milk also
aided neurological development and reduced the risks of infections, Ms
Callaghan said.
Hospitals used to provide excess milk from new
mothers to babies who needed it until the rise of the spectre of AIDS
in the 80s.
Ms Callaghan said that as the average age of mothers
increased, so had the demand for breast milk.
"I have people
ringing me saying 'Where can I get some human milk from'," she
said.
The president of paediatrics and child health of the Royal
Australasian College of Physicians, Professor Don Roberton today said
any move to make breast milk more available was positive as long as the
milk was properly screened for disease.
Professor Roberton said
human milk had advantages over formula, especially for premature
babies.
"But we also have to be very aware of any potential risks
that might occur with human milk," he said.
Breast milk would
need to be carefully screened in the same way donated blood was, he
said.
Breast milk banks operate in the UK, the USA and parts of
Europe but the prospect of them opening in Australia has raised the
question of who is responsible for their regulation.
A
Therapeutic Goods Administration spokesman said a breast milk
bank would be a state rather than a federal responsibility.
A
spokesman for the Victorian Department of Human Services said a
breast milk bank would come under the State food act.
The
operators would have to show their product was "free of infection and
fit for human consumption" and convince the government that they
had strict screening processes in place, he said.
-
AAP
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