Examining the use of ‘natural’ in breastfeeding promotion: ethical and practical concerns

Journal of Medical Ethics 44 (9):615-620 (2018)
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Abstract

References to the ‘natural’ are common in public health messaging about breastfeeding. For example, the WHO writes that ‘Breast milk is the natural first food for babies’ and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has a breastfeeding promotion campaign called ‘It’s only natural’, which champions breastfeeding as the natural way to feed a baby. This paper critically examines the use of ‘natural’ language in breastfeeding promotion by public health and medical bodies. A pragmatic concern with selling breastfeeding as ‘natural’ is that this may reinforce the already widespread perspective that natural options are presumptively healthier, safer and better, a view that works at cross-purposes to public health and medicine in other contexts. An additional concern is that given the history of breastfeeding in the USA, ‘natural’ evokes specific and controversial conceptions of gender and motherhood.

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References found in this work

Perfectionism in moral and political philosophy.Steven Wall - 2008 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Political Liberalism by John Rawls. [REVIEW]Philip Pettit - 1994 - Journal of Philosophy 91 (4):215-220.
Is Natural Food Healthy?Helena Siipi - 2013 - Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 26 (4):797-812.

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