GAO: PROMOTION OF BREAST FEEDING WOULD HELP WIC PROGRAM

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A report from the General Accounting Office requested by several members of Congress, including U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson, suggests that there are advantages to promoting breast feeding by mothers who are on the Women, Infants and Children program.

The report acknowledges that breast feeding can help insure the health and wellbeing of infants, but low income women, such as those served by WIC, breast feed at lower rates than other U.S. women.

The GAO report indicates that between 1989 and 1992, the incidence of breast feeding in-hospital increased nearly 12 percent among WIC participants, compared to 5 percent among non-participants.

Emerson and five other House members -- U.S. Reps. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., Bill Ford, D-Mich., Tony Hall, D-Ohio, Dale Kildee, D-Mich., and Bill Goodling, R-Pa. -- requested the study. The group asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture to determine the impact that increased breastfeeding would have on WIC food costs.

Said Emerson: "The benefits of mothers' milk to children have been well-documented, and now the GAO study helps illustrate what kind of a job the federal government has done in promoting breast feeding through the WIC program. There is no question that breast feeding is the most common sense approach to insuring a healthy start for newborns and infants; we must make sure that WIC mothers have these facts and necessary tools to make this choice."

Congressman Durbin, chairman of the House Appropriations Agriculture Committee, which oversees the WIC program, suggested that ways needed to be found to continue to promote breast feeding among women under the WIC program.

Congressman Goodling added: "It is my hope that this study will help us determine how effective current WIC efforts are to promote breast feeding in terms of insuring the health and well-being of infants as well as being cost-effective."

Emerson stressed that he was encouraged by the results of the study, which show that when women are educated on the benefits of breast feeding they will try it.

"These findings should provide government leaders the impetus to continue, and even expand, their outreach on this nutritional alternative," said Emerson. "Hopefully, lawmakers can learn from this study what works and what doesn't. In the long run, the GAO's findings should help fine tune the WIC's breast feeding program and its outreach efforts.

"This study is a prime example of why more congressional oversight is needed. Without oversight, we're simply on auto-pilot; with it, we can change course and make our programs better."

The Special Supplemental Food Program for WIC provides supplemental food, nutrition, and health education, and referrals to other health and social services to low income pregnant and postpartum women, infants and children up to age five whose family is at, or below, established income eligibility standards.