This came to me by way of:
>>>.            RACHEL'S ENVIRONMENT & HEALTH WEEKLY #658           .
>>>.                      ---July 8, 1999---                       .
>>>.                          HEADLINES:                           .
>>>.                PVC AND THE BREASTS OF MOTHERS                 .
>>>.                          ==========                           .
>>>.               Environmental Research Foundation               .
>>>.              P.O. Box 5036, Annapolis, MD  21403              .
>>>.          Fax (410) 263-8944; E-mail: [log in to unmask]

>>>Why the Precautionary Principle? A Meditation on Polyvinyl
>>>Chloride (PVC) and the Breasts of Mothers
>>>
>>>by Sandra Steingraber[2]
>>>
>>>Those of you who know me know that when I talk on these topics I
>>>usually speak out of two identities: biologist and cancer
>>>activist. My diagnosis with bladder cancer at age 20 makes more
>>>urgent my scientific research. Conversely, my Ph.D. in ecology
>>>informs my understanding of how and why I became a cancer patient
>>>in the first place: bladder cancer is considered a quintessential
>>>environmental disease. Links between environment and public
>>>health became the topic of my third book, LIVING DOWNSTREAM, but
>>>since I have been given the task of speaking about the effect of
>>>toxic materials on future generations, I'm going to speak out of
>>>another one of my identities -- that of a mother.
>>>
>>>I'm a very new mother. I gave birth in September 1998 to my
>>>daughter and first child. So, I'm going to speak very intimately
>>>and in the present tense. You know it's a very powerful thing for
>>>a person with a cancer history to have a child. It's a very long
>>>commitment for those of us unaccustomed to looking far into the
>>>future. My daughter's name is Faith.
>>>
>>>I'm also learning what all parents must learn, which is a new
>>>kind of love. It's a love that's more than an emotion or a
>>>feeling. It's a deep physical craving like hunger or thirst. It's
>>>the realization that you would lay down your life for this
>>>eight-pound person without a second thought. You would pick up
>>>arms for them. You would empty your bank account. It's love
>>>without boundaries and were this kind of love directed at another
>>>adult, it would be considered totally inappropriate. A kind of
>>>fatal attraction. Maybe, when directed at babies, we should call
>>>this "natal attraction."
>>>
>>>I say this to remind us all what is at stake. If we would die or
>>>kill for our children, wouldn't we do anything within our power
>>>to keep toxics out of their food supply? Especially if we knew,
>>>in fact, there were alternatives to these toxics?
>>>
>>>Of all human food, breast milk is now the most contaminated.
>>>Because it is one rung up on the food chain higher than the foods
>>>we adults eat, the trace amounts of toxic residues carried into
>>>mothers' bodies become even more concentrated in the milk their
>>>breasts produce. To be specific, it's about 10 to 100 times more
>>>contaminated with dioxins than the next highest level of stuff on
>>>the human food chain, which are animal-derived fats in dairy,
>>>meat, eggs, and fish. This is why a breast-fed infant receives
>>>its so-called "safe" lifetime limit of dioxin in the first six
>>>months of drinking breast milk. Study after study also shows that
>>>the concentration of carcinogens in human breast milk declines
>>>steadily as nursing continues. Thus the protective effect of
>>>breast feeding on the mother appears to be a direct result of
>>>downloading a lifelong burden of carcinogens from her breasts
>>>into the tiny body of her infant.
>>>
>>>When it comes to the production, use, and disposal of PVC
>>>[polyvinyl chloride plastic], the breasts of breast-feeding
>>>mothers are the tailpipe. Representatives from the vinyl industry
>>>emphasize how common a material PVC is, and they are correct. It
>>>is found in medical products, toys, food packaging, and vinyl
>>>siding. What they don't say is that sooner or later all of these
>>>products are tossed into the trash, and here in New England, we
>>>tend to shovel our trash into incinerators. Incinerators are de
>>>facto laboratories for dioxin manufacture, and PVC is the main
>>>ingredient in this process. The dioxin created by the burning of
>>>PVC drifts from the stacks of these incinerators, attaches to
>>>dust particles in the atmosphere, and eventually sifts down to
>>>Earth as either dry deposition or in rain drops. This deposition
>>>then coats crops and other plants, which are eaten by cows,
>>>chickens, and hogs. Or, alternatively, it's rained into rivers
>>>and lakes and insinuates itself into the flesh of fish. As a
>>>breast-feeding mother, I take these molecules into my body and
>>>distill them in my breast tissue. This is done through a process
>>>through which fat globules from throughout my whole body are
>>>mobilized and carried into the breast lobes, where, under the
>>>direction of a pituitary hormone called prolactin, they are made
>>>into human milk. Then, under the direction of another pituitary
>>>hormone called oxytocin, this milk springs from the grape-like
>>>lobes and flows down long tubules into the nipple, which is a
>>>kind of sieve, and into the back of the throat of the
>>>breast-feeding infant. My daughter.
>>>
>>>So, this, then, is the connection. This milk, my milk, contains
>>>dioxins from old vinyl siding, discarded window blinds, junked
>>>toys, and used I.V. bags. Plastic parts of buildings that were
>>>burned down accidentally are also housed in my breasts. These are
>>>indisputable facts. They are facts that we scientists are not
>>>arguing about. What we do spend a lot of time debating is what
>>>exactly are the health effects on the generation of children that
>>>my daughter belongs to. We don't know with certainty because
>>>these kids have not reached the age at which a lot of diseases
>>>possibly linked to dioxin exposure would manifest themselves.
>>>Unlike mice and rats, we have long generational times. We do know
>>>with certainty that childhood cancers are on the rise, and indeed
>>>they are rising faster than adult cancers. We don't have any
>>>official explanation for that yet.
>>>
>>>Let me tell you something else I've learned about breast feeding.
>>>It's an ecstatic experience. The same hormone (oxytocin) that
>>>allows milk to flow from the back of the chest wall into the
>>>nipple also controls female orgasm. This so-called let-down
>>>reflex makes the breast feel very warm and full and fizzy, as if
>>>it were a shaken-up Coke bottle. That's not unpleasant. Moreover,
>>>the mouths of infants -- their gums, tongues, and palates -- are
>>>perfectly designed to receive this milk. A newborn's mouth and a
>>>woman's nipple are like partners in a tango. The most expensive
>>>breast pump -- and I have a $500 one -- can only extract about
>>>half of the volume that a newborn baby can because such machines
>>>cannot possibly imitate the intimate and exquisite tonguing,
>>>sucking, and gumming motion that infants use to extract milk from
>>>the nipple, which is not unpleasant either.
>>>
>>>Through this ecstatic dance, the breast-fed infant receives not
>>>just calories, but antibodies. Indeed the immune system is
>>>developed through the process of breast feeding, which is why
>>>breast-fed infants have fewer bouts of infectious diseases than
>>>bottle-fed babies. In fact, the milk produced in the first few
>>>days after birth is almost all immunological in function. This
>>>early milk is not white at all but clear and sticky and is called
>>>colostrum. Then, from colostrum you move to what's called
>>>transitional milk, which is very fatty and looks like liquid
>>>butter. Presumably then, transitional milk is even more
>>>contaminated than mature milk, which comes in at about two weeks
>>>post-partum. Interestingly, breast milk is so completely digested
>>>that the feces of breast-fed babies doesn't even smell bad. It
>>>has the odor of warm yogurt and the color of French mustard. By
>>>contrast, the excretions of babies fed on formula are notoriously
>>>unpleasant.
>>>
>>>What is the price for the many benefits of breast milk? We don't
>>>yet know. However, one recent Dutch study found that
>>>schoolchildren who were breast fed as babies had three times the
>>>level of PCBs in their blood as compared to children who had been
>>>exclusively formula fed. PCBs are probably carcinogens. Why
>>>should there be any price for breast feeding? It should be a
>>>zero-risk activity.
>>>
>>>If there was ever a need to invoke the Precautionary Principle --
>>>the idea that we must protect human life from possible toxic
>>>danger well in advance of scientific proof about that danger --
>>>it is here, deep inside the chest walls of nursing mothers where
>>>capillaries carry fat globules into the milk-producing lobes of
>>>the mammary gland. Not only do we know little about the long-term
>>>health effects of dioxin and PCB exposure in newborns, we haven't
>>>even identified all the thousands of constituent elements in
>>>breast milk that these contaminants might act on. For example, in
>>>1997 researchers described 130 different sugars unique to human
>>>milk. Called oligosaccharides, these sugars are not digested but
>>>function instead to protect the infant from infection by binding
>>>tightly to intestinal pathogens. Additionally, they appear to
>>>serve as a source of sialic acid, which is essential to brain
>>>development.
>>>
>>>Most recently, Swedish researchers discovered powerful
>>>anti-cancer proteins in breast milk. Activated by stomach acids,
>>>they appear to enhance cell suicide in defective cells, which is
>>>one way our own bodies protect us from developing cancer.[3]
>>>
>>>So, this is my conclusion. Breast feeding is a sacred act. It is
>>>a holy thing. To talk about breast feeding versus bottle feeding,
>>>to weigh the known risks of infectious diseases against the
>>>possible risks of childhood or adult cancers is an obscene
>>>argument. Those of us who are advocates for women and children
>>>and those of us who are parents of any kind need to become
>>>advocates for uncontaminated breast milk. A woman's body is the
>>>first environment. If there are toxic materials from PVC in the
>>>breasts of women, then it becomes our moral imperative to solve
>>>the problem. If alternatives to PVC exist, then it becomes
>>>morally imperative that we embrace the alternatives and make them
>>>a reality.
>>>
>>>===============
>>>[1] Carolyn Raffensperger and Joel Tickner, editors, PROTECTING
>>>PUBLIC HEALTH & THE ENVIRONMENT: IMPLEMENTING THE PRECAUTIONARY
>>>PRINCIPLE (Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 1999). $30.00. ISBN
>>>1-55963-688-2. Telephone 1-800-828-1302.
>>>
>>>[2] Sandra Steingraber, poet, writer, biologist, and cancer
>>>survivor, lives in Ithaca, N.Y.
>>>
>>>[3] C. Kohler and others, "Protease activation in apoptosis
>>>induced by MAL," EXPERIMENTAL CELL RESEARCH Vol. 249, No. 2
>>>(June 15, 1999), pgs. 260-268.
--
Monique
Noah Schaefers 6/97
[log in to unmask]

It will be gone before you know it.  The fingerprints on the wall appear
higher and higher. Then suddenly they disappear.
Dorothy Evslin

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