An Essential Natural Resource:Mother's Milk
   from GREENPEACE magazine   Fall 1997

Scientists and environmentalists have been treating human milk  like a canary
in a coal mine.  From measurements of toxins in mother's milk, we can
extrapolate statistics to gauge environmental contamination.  We've also
learned that much of a mother's bioacumulated toxims are passed to her baby
through breastfeeding.  This frightening reality has, unfortunately, had an
adverse effect on the reputation of human milk.  In spite of assurances that
breastfeeding is still the best way to feed babies, learning about toxic
contaminants leaves some mothers with doubts about feeding their own milk to
their babies.

This is no way to treat what may well be one of our most essential  and
important natural resources.  No one would seriously suggest substitutes for
air, soil or water because these resources have been tainted.  We work to
clean them up.  Why do we allow toxics to degrade the food naturally designed
for human infants?

According to the La Leche League International, recognized as the world's
foremost authority on the subject, breastfeeding is the best choice for
mothers and babies, especially in a contaminated world.  Countless studies
have been collected in the La Leche Center for Breastfeeding Information, the
world's largest library of studies on breastfeeding and human milk.

 Immunological properties in human milk offer protection against contaminants
from many sources.  The great body of research on infant feeding is based on
studies wherein babies receive their mothers milk as is, with no special
screening to eliminate environmental toxins.  Yet, even with the toxic
burden, breastfed babies and their mothers generally fare better.  Medical
studies have shown that artificially fed babies have significantly higher
rates of middle ear and respiratory infections, as well as higher rates of
diarrheal diseases.  Mothers who don't breastfeed run a greater risk of
contracting breast cancer and osteoporosis.

Artificial baby milk, ususally made from cow's milk or soybeans, requires
significant resources, including water, land, fertilizers, herbicides, and
pesticides.  In contrast to the intense production, transportation, and
packaging demanded by artificial baby milk, human milk is elegantly simple.
 As breastfeeding advocates remind us, human milk is produced at the point of
use, just in time, with no excess to waste and delivered at the perfect
temperature, in reusable "containers," with no additional packaging costs.

Human milk is a natural, renewable resource to be promoted, protected and
restored to its key place in our culture.