00HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 27                                                                                    
01 Encouraging breast-feeding for the well-being of mothers and babies.                                                    
02 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                              
03  WHEREAS the medical profession in the United States recommends that children                                         
04 from birth to the age of one year should be breast-fed unless, under particular circumstances,                          
05 it is medically inadvisable; and                                                                                        
06  WHEREAS, despite the recommendation of the medical profession, statistics reveal                                     
07 a declining percentage of mothers who are choosing to breast-feed their babies; and                                     
08  WHEREAS many new mothers are now choosing to use formula rather than to breast-                                      
09 feed even before they leave the hospital, and only a small percentage of all mothers are still                          
10 breast-feeding when their babies are six months old; and                                                                
11  WHEREAS, in addition to the benefit of improving bonding between mothers and                                         
12 their babies, breast-feeding offers better nutrition, digestion, and immunity for babies than                           
13 does formula-feeding, and it may increase the intelligence quotient of a child; and                                     
14  WHEREAS babies who are breast-fed have lower rates of death, meningitis, childhood                                   

01 leukemia and other cancers, diabetes, respiratory illnesses, bacterial and viral infections,                            
02 diarrheal diseases, otitis media, allergies, obesity, and developmental delays; and                                     
03  WHEREAS breast-feeding also provides significant benefits to the health of the                                       
04 mother, including protection against breast cancer and other cancers, osteoporosis, and                                 
05 infections of the urinary tract; and                                                                                    
06  WHEREAS the incidence of breast cancer in the United States might be reduced by                                      
07 25 percent if every woman breast-fed all her children until they reached the age of two years;                          
08 and                                                                                                                     
09  WHEREAS the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund                                         
10 have established as one of their major goals for the decade the encouragement of breast-                                
11 feeding; and                                                                                                            
12  WHEREAS the social constraints of modern society weigh against the choice of                                         
13 breast-feeding and lead new mothers with demanding time schedules to choose formula-                                    
14 feeding to avoid embarrassment, social ostracism, or criminal prosecution; and                                          
15  WHEREAS any promotion of family values should encourage public acceptance of                                         
16 this most basic act of nurture between a mother and her baby, and a mother should not be                                
17 made to feel incriminated or socially ostracized for breast-feeding her child;                                          
18  BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges businesses to actively                                        
19 encourage women to feel comfortable about breast-feeding their babies on business premises                              
20 and to issue promotional materials that advertise the business positive attitude toward breast-                         
21 feeding; and be it                                                                                                      
22  FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully requests the                                         
23 Governor to direct the Department of Health and Social Services to continue to provide                                  
24 information to the public that encourages breast-feeding of babies as a nurturing and                                   
25 nutritional act.                                                                                                        
26  A COPY of this resolution shall be sent to the Alaska State Chamber of Commerce.