Here's the article from this mornings New York Times Magazine:
(same person as was interviewed on New York Public Radio yesterday)
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/09/magazine/09TOXIC.html?oref=login
(you have to register to see the article, but its free)
First Person: Toxic Breast Milk?
January 9, 2005
By FLORENCE WILLIAMS
If human breast milk came stamped with an ingredients
label, it might read something like this: 4 percent fat,
vitamins A, C, E and K, lactose, essential minerals, growth
hormones, proteins, enzymes and antibodies. In a healthy
woman, it contains 100 percent of virtually everything a
baby needs to survive, plus a solid hedge of extras to help
ward off a lifetime of diseases like diabetes and cancer.
Breast milk helps disarm salmonella and E. coli. Its unique
recipe of fatty acids boosts brain growth and results in
babies with higher I.Q.'s than their formula-slurping
counterparts. Nursing babies suffer from fewer infections,
hospitalizations and cases of sudden infant death syndrome.
For the mother, too, breast-feeding and its delicate
plumbing of hormones afford protection against breast and
ovarian cancers and stress. Despite exhaustion, the in-laws
and dirty laundry, every time we nurse our babies, the love
hormone oxytocin courses out of our pituitaries like a warm
bath. Human milk is like ice cream, Valium and Ecstasy all
wrapped up in two pretty packages.
But read down the label, and the fine print, at least for
some women, sounds considerably less appetizing: DDT (the
banned but stubbornly persistent pesticide famous for
nearly wiping out the bald eagle), PCB's, dioxin,
trichloroethylene, perchlorate, mercury, lead, benzene,
arsenic. When we nurse our babies, we feed them not only
the fats, sugars and proteins that fire their immune
systems, metabolisms and cerebral synapses. We also feed
them, albeit in minuscule amounts, paint thinners,
dry-cleaning fluids, wood preservatives, toilet
deodorizers, cosmetic additives, gasoline byproducts,
rocket fuel, termite poisons, fungicides and flame
retardants.
(see link above for full article, its too long to post here).
Janice Reynolds
***********************************************
To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html
|
