Detroit mothers call out Medolac over growing exploitation concerns

See the full letter here

Black Mothers’ Breastfeeding Association, Mothering Justice and Breastfeeding Mothers Unite, along with a number of allies, have issued an open letter to Medolac asking for answers to questions and to engage in discussion of the company's "aims and objectives in recruiting African- American mothers in our city to participate in your for-profit milk-selling venture." You can read the letter here. At the bottom there is a place to for community members and organizations who also want to hold Medolac accountable to ask their own questions and/or to sign the letter to show support.

I've shared with the letter authors some of my questions, including my questions about the safety of Medolac's human milk derived products and their involvement with experiments on babies born addicted to illegal/prescription drugs:

Thank you for asking these questions. I would also like Medolac to make public the names of the hospitals that are buying or using their human milk products, and the research studies that show that they are safe for fragile, premature babies in NICUs – in particular, for babies born addicted to illegal or prescription drugs. Why aren’t these babies ALREADY receiving donor human milk? Why are we experimenting on these babies? (Clinical Trial report of research planned by University of Louisville, in partnership with Medolac: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02182973 ) “This study is designed to develop pilot data on the acceptability and benefit of donor human milk for infants undergoing pharmacologic treatment for NAS. Specifically, gastrointestinal (GI) sub-scores, as well as total scores, will be compared between infants historically fed formula and those enrolled in a 2-week donor human milk study period.”)

Edited to add: If you live in Kentucky and want to donate milk to a non-profit milk bank, Indiana Mothers' Milk Bank  has milk collection depots in Louisville, Lexington and Florence. The NICU at the University of Kentucky is one hospital using milk from the Indiana milk bank. 

Are there any hospitals using Medolac's "Coop Donor Milk" product?

I have not been able to confirm that any hospitals have purchased Medolac or Mother's Milk Coop's  "Coop Donor Milk" product. 

Medolac/MMC says this commercially
sterile human milk product has a
3 year shelf life. 

Medolac/MMC continues to promote the product for sale. They continue to make reference to it being used currently in hospitals in the US. Pricing information remains unclear and I've been unable to confirm with anyone, anywhere, what hospital might be using the product.

The most product recent sales pitch at the end of 2014 was a "Buy Three Cases Get Two Free" offer. The last price offered after that deal was calculated looks to be around $6/oz.  However MMC's CEO Adrienne Weir said in early January 2015 the price for the product is $4/oz. Further, she has reiterated that there are "hospital partners," NICUS in the US that are using the product. 

Has any hospital purchased this milk? Or has anyone heard of anyone that has purchased this milk? Is any hospital using this milk after receiving it as a donation, free of charge, or on an experimental basis?

If you have any information, I can be reached privately by email. You can also make a completely anonymous comment on this blog -  and if you don't want even your anonymous comment made public, let me know and I will not publish it.

Jodine Chase

Human Milk News