From the editorial / leader page in today's Daily Telegraph  -- in response to
the wild headlines of yesterday (my favourite from the Daily Mail:  "Breast Milk
Poison Alert")

From the editorial / leader section of the Daily Telegraph 13 July 1999:

Don't hit the bottle


ONE hazard of modern motherhood consists of harassment by men in white coats.
Mothers are constantly bombarded with scientific research, swiftly followed by
official advice that ranges from the banal to the bossy. Maternal guilt is the
unnecessary by-product. Sometimes, as in the case of cot deaths, the authorities
turn out to be plain wrong. On the question of what to feed babies, however, the
commonsense view has hitherto also been the scientific one: breast is best.
Following a study into the presence of dioxins and other chemicals in breast
milk, toxicologists now say that the levels of these carcinogens are significant
enough to warrant further research. That sounds more alarming than it is, and
proves nothing more than that we are getting better at detecting minute traces
of these substances. It may be the Government's job to tackle the sources of
dioxins. But their ubiquity is no reason to change natural habits; indeed, the
real danger is that, presented with such alarmist reports, some mothers may
abandon breast-feeding.
For the early stages of infancy, breast is superior to bottle from every point
of view: immunity, nutrition, hygiene and bonding. An official from the Ministry
of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food yesterday said that the potential risk of
contaminated breast milk is "far, far outweighed" by the benefits. It makes a
nice change to hear the gentleman from Whitehall admit that mothers know best.

Magda Sachs, BfN, UK

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