"At Medolac Laboratories, we are dedicated to the fundamental principle that all babies everywhere should have access to breast milk, either from their own mothers or milk from qualified donors adapted for clinical use."
- Elena Medo, CEO
An impressive array of studies support the exclusive use of human milk for preterm infants yet the current supply is only enough to provide for a small fraction of the most fragile babies. The scarcity of donor milk continues to grow with increasing demand and the inability of existing milk banks to effectively scale. Women are expected to donate their milk while others profit in a system that places a high price on human milk and little or no value on milk donors.
We are proud to be the first company primarily focused on the use of human milk in clinical settings to develop a publically available "Commitment to Responsible Conduct." This policy document guides our donor milk sourcing, how we do business and who we partner with. We invite you to learn about those commitments and why our company has chosen this path. We believe that milk donors should be treated fairly and with respect. Conducting business in a fair and sustainable way is consistent with our core values. We have established policies for ethical sourcing of donor milk. The “Medolac Milk Bank Engagement Standards” require that we source our donor milk solely from milk banks that empower women and their families. Through these standards, we ensure that milk banks affiliated with our program treat donors in a fair and transparent way and that the donors and their families benefit from their valuable contribution to infant health.
We are advocates for a global effort to significantly reform milk banking practices by supporting the development of independent breast milk cooperatives, owned by nursing mothers, as an important framework to help ensure that donor interests are not marginalized. A cooperative is defined as "autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise(s)." (International Labor Organization) Our corporate policy is to support the formation of independent donor milk cooperatives that meet those criteria. We believe that by developing and running our business in a responsible, ethical and transparent manner we will create an ample and affordable supply of donor milk to serve the 15 million preterm babies in need throughout the world. For more information on this subject, click here to read "Born Too Soon".
Despite collective efforts to improve health outcomes for premature infants in the developing world, much work remains to be done. We support the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals, particularly those goals which seek to improve health outcomes for children and empower women. Medolac is committed to working in partnership with governments, international agencies and NGOs dedicated to advancing these objectives. We provide technical expertise, facilitate access to the appropriate and sustainable use of our products and encourage the development of independent milk banks.
In sum, at Medolac, we are determined to have a positive, sustainable impact on health outcomes for vulnerable infants and children by providing innovative, safe, high quality human milk products. We seek to advance efforts to implement exclusively human milk feeding for those children in clinical settings. We seek to empower donors through effective and meaningful programs, ensure that their needs are heard and that donor milk is used appropriately and transparently. I look forward to a future when every mother is given the support needed to breastfeed her own child and hospitalized babies are given the human milk nutrition they need to survive regardless of their economic or geographic circumstances.
Yours truly,
Elena Medo, CEO
We are proud to be the first company primarily focused on the use of human milk in clinical settings to develop a publically available "Commitment to Responsible Conduct." This policy document guides our donor milk sourcing, how we do business and who we partner with. We invite you to learn about those commitments and why our company has chosen this path. We believe that milk donors should be treated fairly and with respect. Conducting business in a fair and sustainable way is consistent with our core values. We have established policies for ethical sourcing of donor milk. The “Medolac Milk Bank Engagement Standards” require that we source our donor milk solely from milk banks that empower women and their families. Through these standards, we ensure that milk banks affiliated with our program treat donors in a fair and transparent way and that the donors and their families benefit from their valuable contribution to infant health.
We are advocates for a global effort to significantly reform milk banking practices by supporting the development of independent breast milk cooperatives, owned by nursing mothers, as an important framework to help ensure that donor interests are not marginalized. A cooperative is defined as "autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise(s)." (International Labor Organization) Our corporate policy is to support the formation of independent donor milk cooperatives that meet those criteria. We believe that by developing and running our business in a responsible, ethical and transparent manner we will create an ample and affordable supply of donor milk to serve the 15 million preterm babies in need throughout the world. For more information on this subject, click here to read "Born Too Soon".
Despite collective efforts to improve health outcomes for premature infants in the developing world, much work remains to be done. We support the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals, particularly those goals which seek to improve health outcomes for children and empower women. Medolac is committed to working in partnership with governments, international agencies and NGOs dedicated to advancing these objectives. We provide technical expertise, facilitate access to the appropriate and sustainable use of our products and encourage the development of independent milk banks.
In sum, at Medolac, we are determined to have a positive, sustainable impact on health outcomes for vulnerable infants and children by providing innovative, safe, high quality human milk products. We seek to advance efforts to implement exclusively human milk feeding for those children in clinical settings. We seek to empower donors through effective and meaningful programs, ensure that their needs are heard and that donor milk is used appropriately and transparently. I look forward to a future when every mother is given the support needed to breastfeed her own child and hospitalized babies are given the human milk nutrition they need to survive regardless of their economic or geographic circumstances.
Yours truly,
Elena Medo, CEO
