Air Date: Week of June 28, 1996

Listener calls and letters on recent LOE segments.

Transcript

CURWOOD: A listener to WLRH in Huntsville, Alabama, wrote to us about a reference in our Fathers Day interview about animal dads. We said the tragedy of human fathers who take off before their kids have a chance to know them is the norm in much of the rest of the animal kingdom. That prompted this response: "Your remarks were cruelly insensitive to fathers deprived of access to their children, and they were particularly inappropriate on Father's Day."

While Lisa Lee, who listens to us on WCPN in Cleveland, called to voice her concern about our story examining the benefits of breastfeeding versus the risks of exposing babies to toxic chemicals that concentrate in breast milk.

LEE: What is the alternative? How did the toxins get in our breast milk? By eating beef and milk and other things? Well, I think that we ought to point out that formula is probably worse, when it comes to toxins, than breast milk. I don't want this article to send women rushing out to buy formula.

CURWOOD: Kate Pennington, a member of La Leche League from Newcastle, Maine, heard the same report quite differently. Ms. Pennington wrote, "I was pleased to hear your recent segment affirming the importance of breastfeeding. Thank you for raising awareness of this issue in such a sensitive and thought-provoking way. My only disappointment was that you could have emphasized more clearly the health risks of formula feeding."