I'd like to toss out another idea in the discussion of environmental
contaminants in breast milk.  The media reports (and medical articles) about
the presence of contaminants in the human mother's breast milk, have not (as
far as I have seen) ever addressed the equally/more pressing problem of
environmental contaminants in the cows' milk used to make formula.  There
has been much discussion on this in terms of cows' milk -- whether the milk
is adversely contaminated by the steroids and growth hormones and
antiobiotics given to dairy cows, and the presence of pesticides and
herbicides in cows' milk, and whether or not people should be concerned
about where their milk comes from.  I have not seen anyone raise these
issues with respect to the cows' milk that ends up becoming infant formula.
Why not?  Of course, we have a seriously crummy local newspaper, so maybe
that's it.  Have others seen these issues raised?  Long before I was
concerned about my own breast milk, I would ask "Where did the cows live
whose milk become the infant formula in my local supermarket?  What about
the environmental pollutants in that community?  Does anyone test the cows'
milk before it becomes formula?"

Have any of you seen any discussion of these issues?

Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Anthropology
Texas A&M University
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