Modern Medicine
I remember hearing about doctors in the 50s telling new mothers that they couldn't breastfeed for one reason or another but not to worry because formula was better for their babies anyway and would free up more time for the new mothers to take valium so they wouldn't be at all stressed out about being at home alone all day encased in crinoline and chiffon and trying to wax their floors in high heels.
Well, nowadays, thanks to one of those latest-prescription-drugs-on-the-market Infomercials on Global Nooze, I heard about a medical breakthrough for children who may or may not be suffering from bi-polar disorder who can take drugs that do something or other and it's all good and right and legal, apparently.
Anyway, that got me thinking about the 50s and how formula companies, after a couple of decades, figured they had a way bigger market in Africa, so they infiltrated the market there and convinced new mothers to use forumla to feed their babies instead of breast milk. Unfortunately, the new mothers had to mix the formula with dirty water so their babies all died of diarrhea and the formula company had to deal with a boycott over here in the West because people were so disgusted by their sleazy money-grubbing tactics that they would use and abuse children in such a way to get rich.
It just never ends, does it. Corporate greed, I mean - where Capitalism doesn't meet a need with a product, it just kills babies and makes a lot of money doing it.
Meanwhile, here's something that the usual Capitalists of Third World disasters don't like: It's a very cheap and easily marketed filter straw through which people in Third World countries can drink contaminated water. It's called the "Lifestraw" and it costs $2 and I only just heard about it the other day - even though it's been around for years.
