Jay Gordon is one of the best-known and best-loved pediatricians in America. He’s also one of the most honest doctors I know, willing to tell it like it is, even in the face of his own professional organization’s continued willingness to bow down to the altar of the giant pharma companies.
And now, after Dr. Gordon played an obviously satirical, April Fools joke on a subscription-only email list for lactation consultants and breastfeeding docs, the American Academy of Pediatrics has sent their attorneys after the volunteers who run LACTNET.
This is pathetic. I’ll have more later, bit for now, here’s the exchange.
A full TEN YEARS after I published this article on the AAP’s ties to the infant formula industry, it’s so disheartening to see how little has changed.
8 Responses to “The AAP eats its own (at the behest of formula companies?)”
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Huh. Never heard of the guy, but I can’t say much for his good taste or professionalism, with the comment about celebrities.
*jaw agape*
Agog.
Truly, money is the new God.
The gubmint wants to know about my livestock, my used childrens items, what I inject them with…. how long till mah titties are barcoded and deemed FDA regulated???
*hugs boobies*
Thanks for sharing because I was just recently reading something where the AAP recomended sleeping guidelines for breastfeed babies and it made me feel bad. You got it, my child who is breastfeed does not adhere to their guidelines…
I got the fake press release on Lactnet and my local doula email group and at first we were all saying OMG this is way too good to be the truth!!! We then all realized immediately Jay was joking around. Too bad AAP does not have a sense of humor!
Maybe through humor AAP can learn something, they certainly have not listened to any of us for decades!
Jay did good!
I think the shock and alarm was more from parents and professionals that were hoping it to be true, not the other way around. They probably neglect to mention that in order to save face. I quit taking my kids to FAAP’s because the advise they gave me as a breastfeeding mother wasn’t even in line with the AAP’s Breastfeeding and The Use of Human Milk by a mile. I understand that they need to get sponsorship from somewhere, but when you’re getting your funding from companies that produce things that are so unhealthy (fast food, formula companies, etc), you have to wonder how that impacts what kind of treatment you receive as a patient. It’s the ethical elephant in the room that someone just pointed to, much to the AAP dismay.
You know what ticks me off?
I went to a standard OB for a quick pregnancy confirmation (yay, I am ay ten weeks) and today I get formula coupons in the mail. WTF? I’m bringing this up with her at the next appointment…. I want a cut of what they made off of selling my pregnancy to the marketing bastards.
Hi there,
You might be interested to know that a man claiming to be from the AAP yesterday stood up in the questions section of the keynote of a social media conference, asking how to manage this PR disaster with Web 2.0 tools. He also blathered some remarks about the legal threats they’ve issued, referring to the CAN-SPAM Act, which is obviously inapplicable.
I’ve written about it here (with video of the event): “Political speech and PR cleanup: the AAP squirms at the DigitalNow conference”
LOVED the fake press release. Made my day. Sorry Dr. Gordon is getting grief for an awesome piece of Swiftian-style satire. Or, actually, the trouble may be a good thing, a good way of getting this issue media attention. Get your hackles up, AAP!