Breast milk is examined for content of environmental toxins all around the
world as part of an international monitoring program.  I think it is WHO
that does it, at least they have specified the procedure for doing it.  They
collect milk from women giving birth for the first time so as not to be
misled by measuring levels in women who may have gotten rid of much of their
loads in previous BF experience.  Valerie's point about a single measurement
is true.  The concentration of toxins in milk will decline over time,
because lactating is a great way for us to clear them out of our systems.
This means that the longer you breastfeed one baby, the 'cleaner' the milk -
and your body - will be at the end of it.
The purpose is NOT to check whether mothers' milk is OK for babies.  The
purpose is to find out how much of these poisons we all are sitting on,
without having to stick people with big nasty needles to get biopsies of
adipose tissue.

The monitoring program has shown a steady decline in the concentrations of
toxins which are now banned, though they are still able to detect DDT in
breast milk of primips giving birth now.  These substances stick around,
folks, which is why we should all be concerned about their use, everywhere.
They also show differences according to where people live, and some people
live in more polluted places than others.  Diet plays a role as well.  We
would do well to choose carefully the other foods we give our children, to
make sure that intake of toxins is kept to a minimum.  Here, at least, it is
assumed that you will breastfeed, so those toxins (from breastmilk) are
unavoidable.  You can avoid giving the child and yourself more of the toxins
by avoiding certain fish or fish from certain areas, avoiding fatty meats,
and eating as low on the food chain as you can.

The chemical contaminants on the rise now in our bodies are the flame
retardants used on textiles.  Mature women have much lower concentrations of
these in their body fat than do mature men.  The difference is thought to be
due to our getting rid of the toxin load through pregnancy and
breastfeeding.  Not a nice thought at all, but we all live on this polluted
earth and last time I checked there weren't very many other choices of
planets to live on.  Maybe it's about time we started caring about cleaning
up our act, as if we plan to hand over the earth to our descendants.

Rachel Myr
long winded in Norway, and no wonder, since it is blowing at least strong
gale force out there tonight!

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