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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Jennifer L. Taylor, MPH, Andrea J. Hoberman, MPH, CLE, Dawn M. Richardson, MPH, and Ellen R. Silver, RNP, MSN. Perinatal Advisory Council - Leadership, Advocacy, and Consultation (PAC/LAC), 13743 Ventura Blvd., Suite 330, Sherman Oaks, CA 91423, 818-788-6850, jtaylor@paclac.org

There is no greater fundamental human right than that of good health, from pregnancy to birth and beyond. Experts agree that breastfeeding is the superior source of optimal infant nutrition, as human milk consumption is associated with decreased incidence of diarrhea, respiratory illness, ear infection, and obesity. Infants have the right to receive the benefits of breastfeeding, while their mothers have the right to provide them unfettered access to breast milk. Furthermore, governments and hospitals have a duty to support and protect these rights by eliminating barriers to breastfeeding. Recent clarifications of a 1992 California tissue bank licensure law have elucidated the treatment of human breast milk as a tissue, requiring that facilities which store breast milk maintain a separate tissue bank license or risk losing the ability to legally store breast milk. To further explore this issue, a community forum of interdisciplinary hospital-based providers was convened, during which roundtable discussions yielded qualitative feedback identifying this regulation as an inadvertent barrier to breastfeeding. Forum participants postulated potential ramifications of this law, including decreased willingness or ability of hospital staff to store breast milk, fewer opportunities for mothers to provide their infants with breast milk, and further medicalization of breastfeeding. These implications are especially dire for NICU-hospitalized infants who lack consistent access to their mothers' breast, but are in greatest need of optimal nutrition. Forum outcomes supported the need for advocacy and legislative change to exempt human milk from tissue bank licensing laws in favor of established hospital policies and practices.

Learning Objectives: At the end of this session, participants should be able to

• Describe the importance of breast milk provision in terms of infant health and human rights;
• List three potential barriers to optimal infant nutrition posed by current California tissue bank licensure law;
• Articulate the benefits of a healthcare provider-generated advocacy campaign to exempt human breast milk from tissue bank regulations

Keywords: Breastfeeding, Public Health Advocacy

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

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