But They Meant Well

The consequences of knee-jerk, politically-correct, compassion once again rears its ugly head. The following excerpt is from a Washington Post report courtesy of MSNBC.com:

A decade-long, global push to provide infant formula to mothers with the AIDS virus had backfired in Botswana, leaving children more vulnerable to other, more immediately lethal diseases, the U.S. team found after investigating the outbreak at the request of Botswana's government.

The findings joined a growing body of research suggesting that supplying formula to mothers with HIV -- an effort led by global health groups such as UNICEF -- has cost at least as many lives as it has saved. The nutrition and antibodies that breast milk provide are so crucial to young children that they outweigh the small risk of transmitting HIV, which researchers calculate at about 1 percent per month of breast-feeding.

I am not against taking sensible and reasoned steps to deal with the AIDS problem. However, when reason is cast aside in favor of Western Liberal feel-good decision making, bad things are likely to happen...and no one will take responsiblity. Shoulders will be shrugged and criticism will be deflected by the armor of good intentions. Other than the HIV-positive mothers, who will weep for the children who died unnecessarily in Botswana?