Here are excerpts from 2 messages I received from CCHW, Citizens
Clearinghouse for Hazardous Waste, which I am forwarding to the list with
permission. Since I have not yet heard the audiotape of the Lois Gibbs
speech in which she or her co-speaker supposedly recommended nobody should
breastfeed, I'm not sure what was actually said, but CCHW's position seems
clear.

Kate Pennington, LLLL, Newcastle, Maine

>Dear Kate:
>Thank you for your questions.  In response, I would like to preface any
remarks by stating that our organization would never advocate an end to all
breast feeding, and Dying from Dioxin makes no such claims.  Our mission is
simply to provide information about dioxin exposure and endocrine
disruptors.  We are aware and respectful of the benefits of breast feeding
and would encourage mothers who want to breast feed to do so.  However, we
also believe that mothers should be aware of the possible dangers that faces
babies who are breast fed.  Since dioxin stores in fat and human breast milk
has a high concentration of fat, it makes the perfect storage medium for
dioxin.  Since breast feeding is at the top of the human food chain, babies
receive the highest relative doses and represent the greatest risk.  Our
stop dioxin exposure campaign, though, is not about advocating lifestyle
changes to reduce exposure.  No one, especially corporations, should have
the right to dictate if we eat milk, cheese, and beef, or if we choose to
breast feed our children.  Our goal is to band together with people like
yourself who demand justice.  Our babies and mothers have the right to
breast feed, and we support them wholeheartedly, so long as they are aware
of the potential health effects.
Regarding the link to endocrine disorders, there is a wide body of
literature on the topic.  The EPA recently released its 1994 dioxin
reassessment implicating dioxin for many endocrine related diseases,
including a possible link with diabetes.  We have just written an article to
be published in our quarterly journal Everyone's Backyard that talks
specifically about this link and provides 25 references (primary
literature)...I would also suggest that you review the section of the EPA
Reassessment regarding dioxin in breast milk.

>We have been trying desperately to join with groups who advocate breast
feeding, but we usually get ignored because people assume that since we are
so anti-dioxin that we would be anti-breast feeding.  In fact (I'm sorry I
missed this before), the opening paragraph in the breast milk section of our
book "Dying from Dioxin," reads as follows:

        "Nursing children is important. Breast milk is the perfect food for babies,
the source of important immunities. Breast-fed babies are healthier than
bottle-fed babies. They have fewer respiratory illnesses, fewer skin
problems, cry less, have fewer allergies, and do not get constipated. Breast
feeding is a special time of bonding for mother and child.
        Although dioxin has been found in breast milk, we recommend that women
continue to breast-feed babies. There are clearly many benefits to nursing
that outweigh most risks . . . so we do know that nursing babies is still a
healthy thing to do."

>That is the exact language of the book, so any reports that we are against
breast feeding are false.

>Michael Drescher
>Citizens Clearinghouse for Hazardous Waste, P.O. Box 6806, Falls Church, VA
22040, (703) 237-2249, e-mail:  <[log in to unmask]>