Recently, someone asked about contaminants and human milk.  Especially Agent
Orange & radioactive isotopes as a result of Chernobyl.

This caught my attention initially because I was living in Germany when the
Chernobyl accident happened.  We had a lot of women calling with concerns
about whether it was safe for them to continue breastfeeding.  The
information from LLLI, and from members of LLLI's Medical Advisory Board was
that the benefits of breastfeeding still outweighed any possible risks of
contamination, and that breastfeeding mothers had the greater ability to use
quality assurance of their baby's intake of contamination by avoiding foods
that were of higher risk.  It was also pointed out that cows and their food,
and soy crops were not immune to radioactive contamination, so weaning would
not assure babies of avoidance of contamination.  This reasoning applies to
most toxic contaminants.

I just finished reading Milk, Money & Madness by Naomi Baumslag & Dia Michel,
and in the section of their book called 'Cow's Milk is for Cows' on page 97,
they say:  The primary environmental culprits are chronic exposure to
chlorinated chemicals (such as heptachlor), pesticides, and industrial
poisons (such as PCBs &DDTs), and dioxins (such as Agent Orange) and furans
(solvents for resins and plastics, and heavy metals (such as mercury,
arsenic, and lead.  Exposure to these is generally in the form of food
contamination from agricultural products and especially fish.  However, to
date, no human toxic effects have as yet been attributed to these substances,
even when they have been found in breastmilk and exist in large amounts in
the environment. . . . . . . .
       . . . . .Breastmilk may offer the most protection against some toxic
chemicals.  Information from Italy and Austria shows that breastmilk
contained one/three-hundredth the amount of radioactive iadine and caesium
that was found in cow's milk following the Chernobyl accident.  This was
confirmed by Swedish studies.  During this radioactive episode, all the cow's
milk in a wide region had tobe discarded.  Resulting shortages of both fresh
milk and infant formula put all artificially fed babies at risk.
 Additionally, the radiation levels in breastmilk were much lower than were
the levels in the mother's body, leading researchers to conclude that some
mechanism exists that reduces the radioactive materials in the milk as it is
produced."

I hope this is helpful to whoever needed documentation.
Kathe Catone