You May Soon Need a License to Say ‘Breast Is Best’
The main beneficiaries of the legislation are universities that provide general health courses and now get a new customer base, as well as the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners (IBLCE), which became the only certification group legally allowed to issue licenses in Georgia. The board generates hundreds of dollars per applicant in examination fees. Shoshana Weissmann, who works on licensing reform issues for the “free market” Washington think tank R Street Institute, notes the monopolistic arrangement with IBLCE “gives this one away” as not truly being about health or safety. The licensing group did not respond to requests for comment.
As is the case with many state licensing schemes, low-income and minority businesses are disproportionately affected. It hurts longtime consultants who “all of a sudden can’t do their jobs,” says Weissmann. New mothers also are impacted because “this severely decreases access to care,” Weissmann says. ”These [consultants] are not people who are going to go back to get a license. They’re going to retire.”
