Unveiling the Breast-Feeding Hypocrisy

Dr. Arthur Silk (“Breast-Feeding Should Be Encouraged, Not Outlawed,” May 17) has poignantly unveiled the recent killing of a bill by a California Assembly committee to permit breast-feeding in public as nothing more than an emperor’s new coat of moral hypocrisy. To my knowledge, prohibition of breast-feeding in public is the exception rather than the rule in most parts of the world.

Breast-feeding is by far the most natural way in nourishing all mammalian infants, since the mother’s milk is specifically formulated for her infant’s needs.

It comes as no great surprise therefore when we find that breast-fed infants are less likely to suffer from allergic conditions than their cow’s milk-fed counterparts.

In addition, many studies have also shown that breast-fed infants are less frequently afflicted by respiratory tract infections.

In my travel in the Western World, I have often wondered why our society is so uniquely fearful of nudity, since one can find openly topless women on beaches everywhere else, even in a Muslim country like Turkey.

Thus, any law denying our infants their best and least expensive nutrient by making breast-feeding a difficult chore instead of an enjoyable bonding experience for the mother and infant holds no more sugar than a fork.

Isn’t it time for our society to start making logical decisions instead of emotional ones?

JOHN T. CHIU, M.D.

Associate clinical professor of medicine

UC Irvine