The following is an article from CNN's website.

Babies Get Smoke from
           Breast Milk, Too --U.S.
           Study
           Reuters
           09-JUN-98
           Release at 4 p.m. EDT (2000 GMT) WASHINGTON, June
           9 (Reuters) - Mothers who go into the next room to smoke
           a cigarette may not be doing enough to protect their babies
           because the chemicals in tobacco smoke also show up in
           breast milk, researchers said on Tuesday.
           A study published in the American Journal of Public Health
           found that even second-hand smoke can show up in a
           mother's milk, and later in her baby's urine.
           In fact, babies may get more exposure to tobacco through
           breast milk than by breathing second-hand smoke, Dr.
           Maria Mascola at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston
           and colleagues found.
           ``While we don't know for sure whether the compounds
           present in breast milk are related to any of the harmful
           health effects seen in some children of smoking women --
           from reduced lung function to greater incidence of asthma
           and other illnesses -- this does stress how important it is
to
           help mothers refrain from smoking both during pregnancy
           and while they are nursing,'' Mascola said in a statement.
           Mascola's team examined 330 mothers and babies who
           were already taking part in a study of smoking.
           The babies of women who smoked and breast-fed had 10
           times the level of cotinine in their urine compared to
babies
           of mothers who smoked but who bottle-fed their infants.
           Cotinine is one of the breakdown products of the nicotine
           in cigarette smoke that can be found in the body. It is not
           linked to any bad health effects, but is easily measured
and
           is a certain pointer to exposure to tobacco.
           Mascola's group also found that babies whose mothers did
           not smoke, but who lived with someone who did, also had
           higher levels of cotinine. They were unable to tell if
there
           were any differences between babies who were bottle or
           breast-fed in this group.
           ``Health care providers need to be as diligent in
           encouraging mothers to stop smoking after birth as in the
           prenatal period, especially those mothers who intend to
           breast-feed,'' Mascola's team concluded.
           ``Those mothers unable to stop smoking should be informed
           of the possibility that harmful chemicals derived from
           tobacco smoke may be transmitted to their infants via
breast
           milk.''


interesting that although there are no known harmful effects of the
cotinine, they still class it as a harmful chemical in the last
paragraph. There is no mention that breastmilk is still of more
benefit to baby than the artificial stuff. - sigh

Querida David
NMAA Counsellor
NT Australia