Better in Reykjavik

Documentarian Michael Moore asked several Scandinavian women whether they would choose to live in the United States. They practically laughed him out of camera range. Isn’t America the Shining City on the Hill, the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave? Aren’t American citizens better off than those of Iceland?

As a woman, you do better in Reykjavik.

This week’s New Yorker includes an article on lab-created human breast milk. Several companies world-wide have synthesized human breast tissue and the hormones that create breast milk. The product is superior to Enfamil or Similac but lacks some of the antibodies and biomes passed from mothers to babies.

I was not surprised that science is creating a “Frankenbreast”. I was surprised by these facts from the article:

In 2019, 83.2% of American infants were breast-fed after birth. Within six months, only 29.4% were.

One fourth of American mothers are back to work within two weeks after giving birth (which helps explain the statistic above).

America is the only country among the twenty wealthiest in the world that does not require paid maternity leave (which helps explain the two statistics above).

In 2018, the Trump Administration opposed a UN resolution encouraging breast-feeding. US-owned corporations dominated the infant formula industry and doubtless contributed millions to Make America Great Again. In the true spirit of “alternative facts”, a spokesman stated that the Trump Administration “simply hoped that mothers who couldn’t breast-feed would not be stigmatized.” Good old Donnie, always concerned for the outcasts in society.

Those Scandinavian women were right. Winters are cold in Oslo, but you don’t have to go back to work two weeks after giving birth.

By Ed Dufton