The Elephant in the Room Bioethical Concerns in Human Milk Banking

September Williams is an American physician-writer, bioethicist, and filmmaker who is a member of the National Writers Union and an affiliate of the International Federation of Journalists. Researching her first novel of the Chasing Mercury Toxic Trilogy she came across material showing cow’s milk-based formula poses a greater risk of infant exposure to mercury and lead than does breastfeeding. There, the seed was planted for The Elephant in the Room: Bioethical Concerns in Human Milk Banking. Seriously humorous, informative and timely, The Elephant in the Room takes a sexy look at bioethics. The year 2018 will be remembered as pivotal in modern history because that’s when the 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? Dr. Williams defines bioethical problem-solving techniques, wades through some heady science, and breaks public health into bite-sized bits ingestible by ‘everybody and their mothers’. “Should we let babies starve?” It is a not so ‘tongue in cheek’ example of a simplified moral question. The Elephant in the Room worries about the pain of disproportionate infant mortality and maternal morbidity by race and class. Evidence is given for why mothers and their babies plagued by high infant mortality and morbidity might benefit from mind-body skill development. She notes traps inherent in our dependence on biotechnology and neonatal intensive care units if we do not place equal focus on diminishing root causes for those needs. Using the history of moral travesties related to the commodification of women and their bodies, in the service of science and technology, she warns that we risk repeated deviations from our health evolution.

The Elephant in the Room trumpets a song that can be easily heard by a wide range of people—women and men, healthcare professionals, owners of restaurants, movie theaters, and bookstores. The clarion call? “More breast milk, please,”  through the normalization of breastfeeding in society.

The first week of August 2019 is World Breastfeeding Week.  A member of the California Breastfeeding Coalition, Susan Martinelli, (BCLC) based at the Marin Community Clinics will join the discussion. Also, Pauline Sakamoto, MS, RN, PHN, Mothers’ Milk Bank San Jose’s founding executive director will join  September Williams, MD, as a resource for this book talk. In recognition of decades of lactation advocacy, feeding frail babies, and the wisdom to identify milk inequity— proceeds from the sale of the Elephant in the Room: Bioethical Concerns in Human Milk Banking go to Mothers’ Milk Bank, San Jose.