1. Australian Breastfeeding Association criticised for telling mums breastmilk with alcohol in it is better than formula
The Australian Breastfeeding Association has come under fire after it released a pamphlet telling new mothers that breastmilk with a little alcohol in it was still better for babies than formula. The pamphlet contained the advice: “Breastmilk with a small amount of alcohol is still better for your baby than artificial baby milk.”
Dr Tony Bartone of the Australian Medical Association told 7 News Melbourne: “There is no safe level of alcohol when it comes to breastfeeding. Formula is a perfectly safe and accessible alternative.”
2. Obama: “We will not be sending troops back into combat in Iraq.”
US President Barack Obama has said that the US will not involve itself in the conflict in Iraq, without the express consent and sincere effort by Iraqi leaders to promote stability. Speaking on Friday, Obama said: “We will not be sending troops back into combat in Iraq… any action that we may take… has to be joined by a serious and sincere effort by Iraq’s leaders to set aside sectarian differences, to promote stability, and account for the legitimate interests of all Iraq’s communities.”
Speculation today suggests that the Obama Administration could look to air strikes as a methods of engaging in the conflict without deploying troops.
3. Japan kills 30 minke whales in north-west Pacific
A Japanese =whaling fleet has killed 30 minke whales in its northwestern Pacific hunt during the April-June season, according to The Fisheries Agency. Japan has continued its whaling activity in the northwestern Pacific in light of the ICC’s recent ruling that it must stop all whaling activity in the Antarctic.Japan has suspended next season’s Antarctic hunt, although it is suspected that the program will be resumed in some form.
4. MH370 book authors: “What happened to MH370 was no accident.”
The New Zealand co-authors of the controversial new book about lost flight MH370 have claimed that the plane’s disappearance was no accident. The authors, commercial pilot Ewan Wilson and Waikato Times journalist Geoff Taylor, travelled to Malaysia to speak to authorities and family members of the plane’s pilot. Speaking to stuff.co.nz, Taylor said: “What happened to MH370 was no accident. It was deliberate and it was calculated, and it should never have been allowed to happen.”
The book was been widely criticised as insensitive to the families of the missing passengers.
5. Kids in WA break into local radio station and broadcast offensive show.
A group of children have broken into a local radio station in regional WA, putting an explicit show to air and cooking chicken nuggets. According to the ABC, the group, aged between eight and 14, broke into Wangki Yupurnanupurru community radio station in Fitzroy Crossing last week and proceeded to broadcast a radio show consisting primarily of swearing. The children had been taught how to use the station’s equipment through an educational program prior to the incident. While in the building, members of the group cooked chicken nuggets and dyed their hair red. The station has not pressed charges.
6. Australia to legally define ‘free-range egg’
Australia’s state consumer affairs ministers have agreed to develop a national definition of ‘free-range egg’. The ministers have agreed to implement a strict definition and minimum labelling rules due to significant consumer confusion surrounding free-range eggs in the Australian market. NSW Fair Trading Minister Matthew Mason-Cox will draft the standard, which will be presented at the next ministers’ forum in 2015.
7. The Teletubbies are returning to TV
After a 13 year hiatus, The Teletubbies will be returning to television. The BBC has ordered 165 new episodes of the popular children’s television program, with production to commence later this year.
8. Socceroos defeated by Chile in FIFA World Cup round one
Australia has lost its first match of the FIFA World Cup, going down 3-1 to Chile. Their game against Chile in the incredibly competitiive Group B was supposed to be the easiest match for the Socceroos. They will face football powerhouses The Netherlands and Spain over the next two weeks.
9. David Morrison delivers powerful speech at UN sexual violence summit
Australian Chief of Army David Morrison has spoken about gender inequality and the use of rape as a weapon in war at the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in London.
Morrison called for more women to be allowed to enter the armed forces across the globe, saying: “I’m no sociologist, I have no anthropological training but I’m certain of this… we live in a world where the squandering of women’s talent, the traducing of their potential, is a global disgrace.”
Morrison went on to say: “Armies that revel in their separateness from civil society, that value the male over the female, that use their imposed values to exclude those that don’t fit the particular traits of the dominant group, who celebrate the violence that is integral to my profession rather than seek ways to contain it… they do nothing to distinguish the soldier from the brute.”
Morrison was selected as a speaker for the summit following his highly publicised YouTube message to the Australian Army on gender equality.
The summit ended successfully, with 155 countries signed up to the declaration to end impunity for rape in war.
Top Comments
I know soccer is not a big interest story on here but here's a summary so far. the big soccer countries like brazil, Germany, Italy, Spain are protected species during the world cup. this was shown in the opening games. Croatia was winning 1-0 against brazil and then brazil was given the most doubtful of penalties, changing the game. then Croatia had a goal disallowed, which should have been a goal. Spain was handed another dubious penalty against Netherlands but the dutch fought back. Australia was beaten by the better side but where Australia and other masculine countries like japan fall down, is that our players refuse to collapse like a 4 year old when they get a fairy tap on the shin guard. grown prime athletes will collapse and crumble like a marshmellow. Hence when Australian players come up against south American or southern European players, we are penalised continually.
What the ABA is saying is not new. And it's true. Sorry but formula is nowhere near as good for your baby as breast milk. Even breast milk with a little bit of alcohol in it. It might be hard to hear but it is reality that we are unable to manufacture formula that matches the composition of human breast milk.
And what exactly are your medical qualifications? What studies can you point to that alcohol is less harmful than formula? Can you link to proof?
Recent studies would completely disagree with your assertion that formula is 'nowhere near as good as breast milk.' I believe the current thinking is that while breast milk is nutritionally superior to formula, the difference has been grossly overstated. No ones saying formula is perfect, but it certainly isn't poison. Alcohol, on the other hand, is.
This is completely untrue. The poisionous effects of alcohol on babies are well known and evidenced and have been for some time. Australian guidelines lag significantly behind the rest of the world. When I did my Psych degree 15 years ago, I was taught (by eminent Neuroscientists) about the impacts. Alcohol passes through the blood brain barrier and impacts on all those tiny little cells that are in their development stage. Their tiny little livers are still developing and can't process a wide range of materials the way an adult liver can. Giving alchohol to babies, regardless of how it is delivered, should be classed as child abuse. If you can't give up alcohol while breastfeeding a baby then you have to use formula! That is your choice! Not your baby's. You have a choice not to drink.