The Elephant in the Room: Bioethical Concerns in Human Milk Banking

From bioethicist September Williams, MD, the author of ‘Chasing Mercury,’ with Mothers’ Milk Bank, San Jose, comes The Elephant in the Room: Bioethical Concerns in Human Milk Banking. Seriously humorous, informative and timely, The Elephant… makes bioethics look sexy. The year 2018 will be remembered as pivotal in modern history. This year, a first mother-model (in more ways than one ) helped empower all families by breastfeeding her baby at work–on a runway during Fashion Week. How did we come to this point where breastfeeding is sensational? In Dr. Williams’ hands, bioethics, some heady science, and public health are broken into bite sized bits ingestible by ‘everybody and their mothers. She looks at worries about access to breastfeeding and breast milk equity. We are forced to consider why every infant can’t receive breast milk when we know breastfeeding improves the health outcomes for mothers and babies–even in communities most plagued by chronic illnesses.”Should we let babies starve?” The Elephant asks. It is a not so ‘tongue in cheek’ example of a simplified moral question. The book wades through the pain of disproportionate infant mortality by race and maternal morbidity. Evidence is given for why mothers in communities most attacked by high infant mortality and premature births might benefit from mind-body skill strengthening. The ethical traps inherent in dependance on bio-technology and neonatal intensive care units reacting to prematurity–without equal focus on diminishing root causes of the problem–are underlined. The daily morning restocking of breast milk bank freezers, emptied by night to feed frail babies, is a miracle facilitated by donations from womens’ bodies and hearts. The Elephant in the Room: Bioethical Concerns in Human Milk Banking trumpets a song that can be easily heard by a wide range of people–women and men, health care professionals, owners of restaurants, bookstores, movie theaters, and the average persons on the street. The clarion call? “More breast milk, please.” Not for profit Mothers’ Milk Bank, San Jose provides over 1/2 million ounces of milk to babies in need annually. They easily require twice as many donations to adequately meet growing projections. That growth is related to multiple factors both technical, societal and medically based. Short term inability for mothers to nurse their newborns are often expanded by geopolitical and social ambivalence for the needs of families and babies. This book reflects the MMB-SJ “call to arms,” directed at those who hold babies and life dear. Proceeds from The Elephant in the Room: Bioethical Concerns in Human Milk Banking are being donated to Mothers’ Milk Bank San Jose.