Prolacta milk banks - Page 4

[MamaBear1976]

Originally Posted by mamajake

Second, Prolacta procures its breastmilk from NON-PROFIT milk banks and from at least one other non-profit organization, the International Milk Bank Project. So the "non-profit=good, for-profit=bad" dichotomy is naive and unproductive.

(I understand the intent behind your comment, but I want to clarify something.)

I am researching this, and there is no evidence that Prolacta obtains any of its milk from non-profit milk banks. It obtains its milk from a network of milk banks across the country (ETA: these milk banks are located within hospitals and midwifery/birth centers, as well as stand-alone milk banks, like Two Maids A-Milking in Encinitos, California) that turn a profit by selling the raw breast milk they get from donors to Prolacta at $.50-$2/ounce. All of these are for-profit milk banks, selling donor milk to Prolacta.

Also, the International Milk Bank Project's non-profit status is up for debate, as far as I'm concerned. Check out the IRS search page on charities. The "International Breast Milk Project" is absent if you run a search on it, but "Run for Africa" (another charity created by Jill Youse) is present, which seems pretty fishy to me. I, for one, am eager to see their quarterly report, which was promised months ago but is still glaringly absent from the IBMP site. (The National Milk Bank, another Prolacta front, called itself "non-profit" for a few months and then withdrew the statement from its website when it no longer could make that claim without getting in trouble.)

The HMBANA milk banks, the only ones that are truly non-profit, are not affiliated with Prolacta at all. HMBANA milk banks, the only truly non-profit milk banks in North America, genuinely help critically ill babies. Prolacta only pays lip-service to helping babies, but the truth is Prolacta helps its bottom line first and foremost while giving the illusion of altruism. Pretty scummy, if you ask me.

[mamajake]

My comment was based on my understanding that both IMBP and the other major Prolacta source, the National Milk Bank affiliate depots (see http://www.nationalmilkbank.org/), were 501 (c)(3)s. When Prolacta first hit the press a year or two back, the California milk banks now under the National Milk Bank umbrella claimed to be 501(c)(3)s, which seemed quite odd to me at the time. However, the NMB web site as of today does not make the claim to be a non-profit. Sooo, if neither IMBP nor the NMB affiliates are 501(c)(3)s, than I happily stand corrected.

[MamaBear1976]

Originally Posted by mamajake

My comment was based on my understanding that both IMBP and the other major Prolacta source, the National Milk Bank affiliate depots (see http://www.nationalmilkbank.org/), were 501 (c)(3)s. When Prolacta first hit the press a year or two back, the California milk banks now under the National Milk Bank umbrella claimed to be 501(c)(3)s, which seemed quite odd to me at the time. However, the NMB web site as of today does not make the claim to be a non-profit. Sooo, if neither IMBP nor the NMB affiliates are 501(c)(3)s, than I happily stand corrected.

The National Milk Bank did make the claim they were non-profit, and they turned out not to be. They were essentially LYING on their website when they made that claim, and all the donors who donated milk to them thinking it was non-profit probably still don't know the bank they willingly gave their milk to sold their milk for a profit.

I think the International Breast Milk Project is doing something similar. It still makes the claim that it is non-profit, but with a 501(c)3 you can wait 27 months before filing anything, during which time the IBMP can safely (and legally) claim it is a 501(c)3 non-profit, collect milk donations under that intentionally deceptive claim, and after the 27 months say, "Oops! I guess I'm not a non-profit after all," in the same way the National Milk Bank did it. The IBMP was created a few months after the National Milk Bank, so they may have learned from their mistakes when they were creating the IBMP. I'm just trying to clarify that for those reading at home, so they're not duped by the likely FALSE claim that the IBMP is non-profit. We shall see; time will tell us eventually. Time has already told us the IBMP hasn't sent the 55,000 ounces it promised to Africa yet, and that at the current rate of shipment, it'll take the IBMP FIVE YEARS to do so, but who's counting? Maybe by writing about it and drawing attention to it, they really will do what they say they will...? I sure hope so.

With Prolacta, don't trust a thing they tell you. It's all PR and advertising and propaganda. They will tell you with a straight face they're "helping to save critically ill babies in the NICU" and then turn around and charge those babies' families $184.83/ounce ($6.25/milliliter). Can't cover it? Too bad. Meanwhile, the HMBANA banks (banks which truly help critically ill babies, whether they can afford to pay or not) are being depleted of their donors, because both HMBANA banks and Prolacta have the same strict standards for their donors but Prolacta has tremendous marketing power while the HMBANA banks don't.