<<"Human milk is like ice cream, Valium, and Ecstasy all wrapped up in two
pretty packages.">>

Yeah, I cringed at that line, too, as well as some of the other wording
Valerie pointed out. I never said it was a perfect article! But I think it
did a good job, overall, of drawing attention to a significant concern
about our world.

<<Although I have never seen a picture of infants at the top of the food
chain in any biology book.>>

Exactly! That's the point! The potential danger of toxins to nursing
babies is easy to overlook because we're used to thinking of an adult
human as being the last creature to unwittingly take in environmental
toxins. But that isn't the case; a child who nurses is feeding, whether
breastmilk is technically classified as a food or not. For that matter, a
fetus taking nutrients through the placenta could be on the rung between
the adult and the nursing child.

<<Shouldn't we be talking about the risks of toxins during pregnancy
rather than this huge focus on toxins in breastmilk?>>

Why can't we talk about both? I think most pregnant women have a pretty
good idea of the risks of toxins during pregnancy. But how many of them
who avoided eating swordfish or having their houses treated for termites
during pregnancy know that it could be beneficial to continue to avoid
such things while lactating? (And maybe even forever, especially if they
plan more children.)

<<Contamination and health impacts of toxins to the infant mostly occur
during pregnancy not during breastfeeding.>>

True, prenatal life is the critical period of toxin exposure for any
particular infant, and, as far as I'm aware, research hasn't shown a link
to long-term adverse health effects due to contaminated breastmilk.
(Hooray for breastmilk!) But when it comes to the *overall* health impact
of a population of infants throughout their lifetimes, especially female
infants, then I think researchers do need to study this aspect of
breastfeeding, as uncomfortable as it may make us. Fat-soluble toxins
present in the mom's tissues are mobilized during milk production and are
passed to her infant, and some contaminants do slip more easily into
breastmilk than through the placenta. Moreover, the number and type of
contaminants present in a woman's milk are related to her lifetime body
burden. So although today's nursing infants may not be adversely affected,
who knows whether, due to biomagnification, those infants' descendents
might? It's a sad and scary thought to me.

Propaganda technique or not, fear can motivate people into concern and
action. I freely admit to being afraid that future mothers may be unable
to breastfeed without worrying. And I'm furious that in a relatively short
100 years or so, potentially life-threatening industrial pollutants have
permeated so much of our existence. When I was nursing my children, I
thought my breastmilk was pure and absolutely perfect. When I found out
that it had most likely contained some PCBs and dioxins, I felt violated
and mama bear-ish.

I confess I didn't pay much attention to environmental issues until they
became personal in this way -- and that's why I think there must be other
breastfeeding mothers out there who don't know about toxins in human milk
but who, if educated about them, would press for change in order to help
protect breastfeeding for their own children and grandchildren. At the
same time, we breastfeeding advocates will be there to point out that all
of the health organizations and researchers emphasize that, despite toxins
that breastmilk may contain, formula is far inferior to breastfeeding, is
subject to contamination and manufacturing tragedies, and that breastmilk
in fact will help infants cope with a polluted world.

Jennifer Herrin, RN, IBCLC
Heidelberg, Germany

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