(I'm forwarding this with permission.

Diane Wiessinger)
***
I am a family physician
in Seattle who focuses on lactation (clinically, research, public health
activities, etc).  In the world of breastfeeding, I co-chair the
Breastfeeding Coalition of Washington, serve on the board of the Academy of
Breastfeeding Medicine and represent ABM on the US Breastfeeding Committee.

[log in to unmask] 2/21/04 11:46:09 AM
Hello all you wonderful people who promote maternal-child health,

I'm writing to give you advance notice about a press release scheduled
for 2-24 to report the findings of a study to quantify toxic flame
retardants in the milk of nursing mothers in the Puget Sound area.  It
is similar to and provides results similar to other studies that made
national headlines in the past several months.

My purpose in sending this info, and asking you to send it to all who
you know in the lactation support community, is so we will be prepared
to respond quickly and in a well-informed way to questions from moms,
health care providers, and reporters.  I also want to reassure you that
the researchers have demonstrated great care in collecting and reporting
this data so as to avoid sensationalism, particularly to help people
keep persective on the reasons why breastfeeding remains the healthiest
way to nourish human infants, and focus attention on the need to clean
up the environment---not ditch breastfeeding.  As examples of this, they
sought out and have been very responsive to guidance from the
lactation-support community, maternal-child health experts, etc.  They
plan to have nursing mothers visible at the press release, including
women who were found in the study to have high levels of PBDEs.

2 Seattle-based nonprofit conducted the study to assess the burden of
toxic flame retardants, known as PBDEs, in Puget Sound residents.  As in
studies of PBDEs in other areas of the country, milk was chosen as the
body fluid to study for logistical reasons (because it is easiest and
cheapest to study), and because if offers a window on maternal body
burden and thereby fetal exposure, a time of particular sensitivity to
many toxins.

Researchers suspect that PBDEs are fetal toxicants:  in laboratory
animals, exposure to PBDEs at a critical stage of early brain
development causes permanent behavior aberrations and learning deficits.
PBDE levels in the United States appear to be rising quickly, and are
already 10 to 100 times as high as are found in Japan and Sweden.

The lead reseracher wanted me to reassure you about 2 points.  First,
everyone involved with this study agrees that breastfeeding is
healthiest for babies and mothers; the problem is not breastmilk, it is
a polluted environment that exposes everyone--even developing fetus--to
toxic contaminants.  Great pains were taken in the report to emphasize
that breastfeeding is still the healthiest choice for babies and
mothers, and that public policy needs to discourage pollution while
promoting breastfeeding.  Second, there are resources and fact sheets
that you can use to answer questions that mothers may have questions
about contaminants in breast milk.  Among the best are:

Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility has several fact
sheets for both physicians and mothers about pollution and
breastfeeding.  They are available in both English and Spanish, at:
http://psr.igc.org/ihw-download-materials.htm#ihwFactSheetDwnld

The Breastfeeding Coalition of Washington's summer 2003 newsletter,
Breastfeeding Matters, has an excellent overview of the PBDE issue
available at: http://www.hmhbwa.org/pdfs/BCW_newsl_summer2003.pdf

The study report, press release, and related materials will be
available at the following website by the day of the press conference,
if not the day before: www.northwestwatch.org/pollution.

Best wishes, MaryAnn

***********************************
MaryAnn O'Hara, MD, MPH, MSt, FABM
Clinical Assistant Professor of Family Medicine
University of Washington
[log in to unmask]

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