Friends and values

So I am having a conversation with a colleague about breast feeding (as one does). We are at a big table with other colleagues. I am discussing how unethical formula companies are and how they violate the code set forth by World Health Assembly http://www.ibfan.org/site2005/Pages/article.php?art_id=51&iui=1 by marketing to formula to babies under five months of age . One of my colleagues chimes in, “You know Zane, I have a friend who works for a formula company and he is very ethical.” The others seated at the table get quiet. “I did not mean to accuse your friend of not being unethical, “I reply, “but I would like to know if his company is honoring the code.” My colleague responds, “My friend is going to work for the GATES Foundation on HIV/AIDS soon." This doesn't answer my questiong but I find this interesting information because there are studies showing how formula is actually causing many women in Africa to get HIV due to the cow milk creating small fissures in the stomach allowing HIV to enter. (Do your own research please). It appears that if breast milk and formula are mixed this could be a deadly cocktail for a woman who is HIV positive. If the HIV woman only breast feeds the chances of the baby getting HIV is reduced significantly. If a baby is only fed formula this also reduces the chances of HIV but what so often happens in Africa is that a woman will use her breast milk as a pacifier to calm a crying a baby thus introducing the milk to leak through the fissure is stomach (this is highly simplified and research on your own to understand this process). This is where the problem of using formula comes into play. “Does your friend working for the formula company know this? It seems a bit ironic." I ask. As you can imagine by now the people gathered around the table are a bit perplexed. It’s not often breast feeding is the topic of discussion. My colleague who is a big advocate of breast feeding is struggling internally with her values and defending her friend. To make a long story short, I do some research on my own and sadly find her friend’s company listed as a big time offender of the code right here in our very own Indonesia http://www.ibfan.org/site2005/abm/paginas/articles/arch_art/298-4.pdf (Please do your own research) I present my colleague with the information and tell her to ask her friend what he thinks of the violation. It is my colleague’s decision whether to pursue the issue further with the friend…if this is still an ethical friend.