Is it too much to ask that Hollywood types know what they’re talking about before the express their opinions?
Apparently, it is. After a New York Times article about the U.S. refusal to sign a U.N.resolution “to promote breastfeeding,” Alyssa Milano and a handful of news sites completely misinterpreted what happened. While the news outlets tried to focus on the U.S.’s reaction to the resolution (withdrawing military aid from Ecuador, which introduced the bill) some people believed the real emphasis was on breastfeeding itself. Capitalism and infant formula became the evil demons of the day.
Re-tweeting a story from the New York Daily News, actress Alyssa Milano wrote, “There’s nothing this man isn’t trying to fuck up. Leave my boobs alone, @realDonaldTrump.”
The article accused Trump of both calling the New York Times “fake news” and defending the position the Times reported. Even though Trump expressly stated that he had nothing against either position of infant formula or breast feeding, he still came under fire.
Vox wrote a scathing piece on the incident, claiming that the administration “is helping the infant formula industry mislead moms about breastfeeding.” But apparently that’s not the biggest evil that the Trump administration is participating in. Vox cited a study that claimed that Nestle was responsible for the deaths of millions of infants in sub-Saharan Africa due to their “aggressive marketing campaigns.” But more emphasis was placed on Nestle than the fact that the reason that the infants died was because of the contaminated water mothers mixed in with the formula.
Another dark sin that both the Trump administration and the infant formula industry want to commit, allegedly, is changing the category of infant formula from “breast-milk substitute” to “food.” Which apparently, according to Lucy Sullivan, quoted as the executive director of a women and child nutrition non-profit, “is a public health disaster waiting to happen.”
But … it seems like the biggest issue is just that there should be more emphasis on getting cleaner water for sub-Saharan African countries. But of course, no one wants to talk about that. Instead, bash the evil corporations and the Trump administration. Seems like a rational defense.
