I've browsed the Veggie Board and read a mom asking about exhaustion and BF
and pondering weaning her 6 month old when another responder urged this mom
to wean IMMEDIATELY. I have read parts of the Dying of Dioxin book and all
our Lactnet comments
but I am wondering how to respond to the following as I have already
responded that despite dioxin in our environment for the past
several decades,BF infants remain the healthiest. It seems to me that while
we are cleaning the environment up to decrease dioxin,our best efforts
should focus on children's immune systems first and then on ? risks of
adult cancer.If they dont' make it through childhood, adult illnesses are a
mute point.  Let me know what you think

Case in point: am assisting an RN whose 6 week old preemie(born at 31 weeks
gestation) has had 3 bilateral ear infections plus RSV while hospitalized
post birth. If mom had not provided her milk, it is doubtful that this
little one would be breathing today---he's on a
home apnea monitor and is growing well. I suppose mom is at risk for
thrush, due to baby's antibiotics. Anyone else tired of that five letter
word??


>Subject: Re: Breastfeeding mother & exhaustion
>Date: March 27, 1996 at 16:24:07

>In Reply to: Re: Breastfeeding mother & exhaustion posted by Mary on March
27, 1996 at 14:23:08:

>Dioxin contamination has not always been with us. It is
>related to the burning of plastics and bleached white paper, a
>among other things. Dioxin has been found to be implicated
>in human cancers and directly related to destruction of the
>human immune system. Studies on the benefits of human breast
>milk are valid, but may be dated or do not extend long enough
>into the future of the child. For instance, a child may have
>a reduced incidence of otitis media but have a higher incidence
>of breast, testicular, prostate, or brain cancer as and adult. The
essential
>fact is that human breast milk is contaminated with dioxin
>and breast fed infants receive 20 - 30 times the average
>daily dose of dioxin and 1,750 times the acceptable daily dose of
>dioxin. Dioxin in the food chain is very serious. We must
>make informed decisions based on data for potential adverse
>effects of dioxin loading during infancy. Pollution has
>forced us to give up many things: clean beaches and rivers,
>breatheable air, and now, possibly, human breast milk for our infants
>The one hopeful point is that humans obtain 90% of their
>Dioxins from animal protein, therefore a vegetarian diet from
>infancy would greatly reduce the levels of dioxin for the adult.
>This is difficult for anyone to accept, but acceptance would
>be much less difficult than any future catastrophic illness our children
>might endure.

Any suggestions,with permission,I will forward or can be applied under the
Health Section of
www.honors.indiana.edu/~veggie/

Denise Ferrell,IBCLC  Indiana