I’ve blogged on the “partnership” between the International Breastmilk Project and for-profit human-milk-mining pharmaceutical company Prolacta before. To catch up:
Feed the wo-orld”¦ one baby, anyhow.
Salon’s “Milk Money”: media scrutiny of the IBMP-Prolacta partnership
Milking it in California
and check out the Breastfeeding Symbol Blog for heaps more.
Sometimes inspecting cached versions of webpages, and comparing them to the current version, can be an interesting, albeit pedantic, exercise. For example, I was just poking around the cached version of the International Breastmilk Project website from 27 July 2007. (If it’s gone by the time you go to look, you’re welcome to contact me.)
And here’s the current version.
I noticed a couple of changes. Bold and italic emphasis is mine.
FAQ 8, for example, reads “If I donated after May 31, 2007, will my milk still go to Africa?”
Before:
o Yes, 25% of all of the milk collected will go to Africa and the rest will stay in the US for critically ill infants in the NICU. This means an estimated 25,000 ounces each year will be screened, tested, and shipped by Prolacta for free. The International Breast Milk Project decided to scale up their business model by asking Prolacta Bioscience to provide funds for local milk bank development in Africa in addition to processing and testing donated breast milk for free. The milk that is shipped to Africa for orphans affected by HIV/AIDS is donated and not sold to the babies or orphan clinics.
o The International Breast Milk Project has also requested that Prolacta donate $1 to the IBMP for every ounce of donated milk that stays in the U.S. This ensures a sustainable, steady source of funds to build critically needed healthcare clinics in Africa, and will provide a vehicle to help local moms donate milk. 100% of every dollar contributed will go directly to supporting babies orphaned by HIV in Africa. This partnership of a non-profit with a for-profit organization is the best model for sustainability to provide for a critical need. This also means that 75% of your milk is helping critically ill babies in the United States. Every ounce of your milk is making a difference.
After:
* Yes, 25% of all of the milk collected will go to Africa and the rest will stay in the US for critically ill infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). This means an estimated 25,000 ounces each year will be screened, tested, and shipped by Prolacta for free. The International Breast Milk Project decided to scale up their business model by asking Prolacta Bioscience to provide funds for the critical health care needs of infants in Africa in addition to processing and testing donated breast milk for free. The milk that is shipped to Africa is donated and not sold to the babies, hospitals, orphan clinics or any other entity.
* The International Breast Milk Project negotiated with Prolacta to donate $1 to the IBMP for every ounce of donated milk that stays in the U.S. This ensures a sustainable, steady source of funds to improve access to healthcare and nutrition for infants in impoverished nations. This partnership of a non-profit with a for-profit organization is the best business model for long-term sustainability and providing funds to improve health care for infants in Africa. This also means that 75% of your milk is helping critically ill babies in the United States. Every ounce of your milk is making a difference.
Whoah! Something disappeared!
[lots more after the cut.]
~~~
Reading on to FAQ 9, “Why is the 25% Africa vs. 75% U.S. important?”. Before:
o The 25% – 75% balance maximizes resources to create a sustainable model of funding for health care in Africa. By building healthcare infrastructure for donor milk in Africa we are conserving money, fuel, shipping costs, and minimizing the impact on the environment. 100% of every dollar contributed will go directly to supporting babies orphaned by HIV in Africa. This partnership of a non-profit with a for-profit organization is the best model for sustainability to provide for a critical need.
After:
The 25% – 75% donor milk-to-funding balance maximizes resources to create a sustainable model of funding for health care in Africa. By funding the critical health care needs of infants in Africa we are conserving money, fuel, shipping costs, and minimizing our imprint on the environment.
~~~
And FAQ 10? “What will be done with the donated milk that does not go to Africa?”
Before:
o The donated breast milk that remains in the U.S. will be used to make human milk fortifier for critically ill babies in NICU. Human milk fortifier is made from 100% human milk, which is added to a mother’s own milk, or to donor milk, providing a critically ill preemie with the nutrition necessary to support appropriate growth and development.
o Prolacta will also donate $1 to the IBMP for every ounce of donated milk that stays in the U.S. This ensures a sustainable, steady source of funds to build critically needed healthcare clinics in Africa, and will provide a vehicle to help local moms donate milk. 100% of every dollar contributed will go directly to supporting babies orphaned by HIV in Africa. This partnership of a non-profit with a for-profit organization provides a great model that creates sustainability to provide for a critical need.
And after:
* The donated breast milk that remains in the U.S. will be used to make human milk fortifier for critically ill babies in NICU. Human milk fortifier is made from 100% human milk, which is added to a mother’s own milk, or to donor milk, providing a critically ill preemie with the nutrition necessary to support appropriate growth and development.
* Prolacta will also donate $1 to the IBMP for every ounce of donated milk that stays in the U.S. This ensures a sustainable, steady source of funds to improve access to healthcare and nutrition for infants in impoverished nations.
~~~
FAQ 11 is an interesting one. In the old version, it read simply:
What percent of the $1/ounce that Prolacta donates to the IBMP goes to setup and maintain milk banks in Africa?
o 100%
In the new version:
11. What will funding from Prolacta be used for?
* Your donations will enable International Breast Milk Project to build a desperately needed community health care facility in an impoverished rural area of Tanzania so that villagers – especially mothers and infants – receive proper medical care and nutrition.
* Our plan includes:
o Building a health care center to serve three local villages near Shirati, Tanzania
o Providing medications and nutrition to infants in the area
o Staffing a full-time local physician
We are partnering with a non-profit organization based in Tanzania to help facilitate the on-site construction and implementation of the project. We hope to begin construction of the health care center in the coming months.Physicians from the U.S. recently visited the area and reported back on their visit:
In each village, the volume of patients was so large that the group was unable to care for everyone. Many patients had never before seen a physician, and many children had received no immunizations. The supply of medications in the nearest pharmacy is limited to several bottles of Tylenol. Working from school classrooms and churches with dirt floors, physicians in make-shift clinics treated over 400 patients. The top five diagnoses were malaria, respiratory illnesses, urinary tract infections, arthritic conditions, and intestinal parasites.
Your breast milk donations and funding will be improving the health care conditions for this area. You will be making a difference in the lives of mothers and babies without access to a physician or medical treatment.
That pesky “100%” has disappeared again!
~~~
And FAQ 12: “ If it is so expensive to send milk to Africa, why don’t you send money instead of milk?”
Before:
o Until infrastructure is built to support local mothers donating milk, both financial support and donor breast milk are needed by orphaned babies in Africa. The 25% – 75% balance maximizes resources to create a sustainable model of funding for health care in Africa. By building healthcare infrastructure for donor milk in Africa we are conserving money, fuel, shipping costs, and minimizing the impact on the environment. 100% of every dollar contributed will go directly to supporting babies orphaned by HIV in Africa. This partnership of a non-profit with a for-profit organization is the best model for sustainability to provide for a critical need.
o We will continue to evaluate this business model to ensure maximum impact and sustainability.
After:
* Until a safe local health infrastructure is built to support local mothers donating milk, both financial support and donor breast milk are needed by orphaned babies in Africa. The 25% – 75% (milk – funds) balance maximizes resources to create a sustainable model for funding for criticial health care for infants in impoverished areas in Africa. By funding healthcare infrastructure in Africa we are conserving money, fuel, shipping costs, and minimizing our imprint on the environment. This partnership of a non-profit with a for-profit organization is the best business model for long-term sustainability and providing funds to improve health care for infants in Africa.
* Our Board of Directors will continue to evaluate this business model to ensure maximum impact and sustainability.
~~~
FAQ 23 also contained a pesky “100%” figure that’s been erased. “What will the dollar per ounce contribution from Prolacta to IBMP be used for?“, was the question. Before:
o This past year we have partnered with the Lewa Children’s Home Eldoret Kenya to bring clean water and healthcare to children orphaned by disease and poverty. We will help fund a healthcare clinic that will break ground in late 2007 or early 2008. We will be shipping the milk to Eldoret and exploring the possibilities of local milk donations. 100% of the dollar per ounce will go directly to aid the Lewa Children’s Home and healthcare clinic.
After, the 100% has been expunged, and the organisation changed from a named, contactable one to an unnamed facility, making it impossible for anyone to actually ring them up and check on donations:
* Your donations will enable International Breast Milk Project to build a desperately needed community health care facility in an impoverished rural area of Tanzania so that villagers- especially mothers and infants- receive proper medical care and nutrition.
* Our plan includes:
o Building a health care center to serve three local villages near Shirati, Tanzania
o Providing medications and nutrition to infants in the area
o Staffing a full-time local physician
We are partnering with a non-profit organization based in Tanzania to help facilitate the on-site construction and implementation of the project. We hope to begin construction of the health care center in the coming months.Physicians from the U.S. recently visited the area and reported back on their visit:
In each village, the volume of patients was so large that the group was unable to care for everyone. Many patients had never before seen a physician, and many children had received no immunizations. The supply of medications in the nearest pharmacy is limited to several bottles of Tylenol. Working from school classrooms and churches with dirt floors, physicians in make-shift clinics treated over 400 patients. The top five diagnoses were malaria, respiratory illnesses, urinary tract infections, arthritic conditions, and intestinal parasites.
Your breast milk donations and funding will be improving the health care conditions for this area. You will be making a difference in the lives of mothers and babies without access to a physician or medical treatment.
~~~
Here’s a strange one. FAQ 28. “What services does Prolacta donate for IBMP?“, under subheading “Processing”. Before:
We process our materials in a pharmaceutical grade facility. Our world class manufacturing employees all have over a decade of experience in other pharmaceutical companies. They process this milk in class 10,000 clean rooms with state of the art equipment. We have spent in excess of 5 million dollars on our processing facility, and there is nothing like it in the world. Our products are made to exacting specifications as defined by neonatologists for protein, fat, and calories and each product lot meets that specification.
After:
Prolacta processes our materials in a pharmaceutical grade facility. Their world class manufacturing employees all have over a decade of experience in other pharmaceutical companies. They process this milk in class 10,000 clean rooms with state of the art equipment and have spent in excess of 5 million dollars on the processing facility, and there is nothing like it in the world. Their products are made to exacting specifications as defined by neonatologists for protein, fat, and calories and each product lot meets that specification.
Subeditor error or Freudian slip?
~~~
Reading this makes my head want to explode. THANK YOU for pointing it all out. Unfortunately, not enough people would notice if not for people writing about it. Which mean that I, too, must. Again, thanks.
You rock.
So many lies, and they really don’t think anyone will notice, do they?
[...] Lauredhel made an incredibly rocking post on the IBMP recently, pointing out inconsistencies in the IBMP’s FAQ page between about a week ago and today. Two weeks ago, the IBMP FAQ page said that 100% of the money made off selling donated milk to Prolacta would go directly to the Lewa Children’s Home in Eldoret, Kenya. Suddenly, that promise to those children is gone, evaporated into thin air. So, what does this mean? NO money to the Lewa Children’s Home now? All the money made in the name of that Children’s Home will not be sent to Kenya? So it’s okay to take more than a hundred pictures of those African children and use those pictures in a slideshow, along with John Lennon’s hit song “Imagine,” for months to help convince women to donate their breastmilk to the International Breast Milk Project, but now that the IBMP have the breastmilk donations, now that they got what they wanted, NO money to the Lewa Children’s Home? Now, supposedly the money will go to some unnamed organization in Tanzania? What’s the next IBMP FAQ update going to tell us? “Now donating money to a remote spot in Namibia”…? Hey, why don’t you change countries every month! That’s fun, ’cause no one will notice, right? Certainly no one in Africa will. Who knows if anyone in Africa is even told they’re recipients of anything. How convenient! Planning on surprising them with your “goodwill,” are you, IBMP? Yeah, that’s probably it. [...]
More on this: http://www.breastfeedingsymbol.org/2007/08/30/jill-youse-responds-and-so-do-i/
Thanks, MamaBear. Keep on keeping on.
[...] Children’s Home in Eldoret, Kenya). None of that money was actually donated, and then when I (and another blogger) started asking questions about the “100%,” the IBMP website was changed to say that, [...]