What does it mean to have found a toxin in samples of human milk?  Does
seeing it in the milk mean that breastfeeding must be stopped or modified in
some way?  Isn't it premature to be asking questions about modifications in
feeding infants before we have a total understanding of the problem?

How does seeing a toxin in human milk predict the health of the infant that
will receive it?  Will stopping or modifying breastfeeding increase an
infant's health and well-being? If one believes the premise that infant
formula is devoid of toxins, does that formula benefit the infant's health
more than the supposedly toxic breastmilk?

Not breastfeeding will impact an infant quite severely.  The health impact
not only effects the infant's current health but it's future health.  We know
this because of the many, many studies on the benefits of breastfeeding.  In
order to keep an infants toxin-free we are willing to increase an infant's
risk of diarrhea, respiratory infections, septicemia, ear infections, etc.
We will increase an infant's risk of diabetes, crohn's disease, lymphomas,
and cancer.  This is not even considering that we are willing to deny an
infant the comfort, the warmth of it's mother.  Nor are we considering the
health impact on the mother when she is discouraged from feeding her baby in
the normal way.  Is this the next sacrifice of breastfeeding on the altar of
ignorance?   Valerie W. McClain, IBCLC

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