Karleen,
With the emergency measures that the Japanese authorities are taking, I
would not expect this recommendations to change if the mothers have indeed
been evacuated.
I have been unable to find blanket recommendations for breastfeeding mothers
in radiological emergencies. Publication 104 from ICRP does not address
lactating mothers or breastfed infants. Publication 95 from ICRP deals with
the calculation of effective dose for infants exposed to radionuclides in
mother's breastmilk ans states:
"In general, the greatest transfer of radionuclides to breast milk occurs
following
intakes by the mother early in lactation." (not surprising)
and
"Comparisons of dose to the infant from ingestion of milk with the
corresponding
dose to the reference adult show that, in most cases, the infant dose is a
small fraction of the adult dose. It is only in the cases of HTO, 45Ca,
75Se, and
131I that infant doses may exceed adult doses for maximum transfer occurring
after
maternal intakes by ingestion shortly after birth (ratios of 1.2, 3.1, 1.4,
and 2.5,
respectively)." Note I in the list. However, if the mother does not
incorporate significant amounts of I131 (because, for instance, she has
received iodine tablets) then the amount of I131 in her milk will be lower.
However, this publication does not address appropriate emergency
interventions.
DISCLAIMER: I don't want to start a flame war with my next sentence. I will
not engage in debate about it. According to UNSCEAR, there was no exposure
to significant incorporation of radioisotopes following Chernobyl.
Therefore, there is no information we can use from that experience to make
recommendations.
In addition, the Hiroshima studies do not discriminate for dose due to
breastfeeding and I am pretty confident mothers kept on breastfeeding after
the bombing.
Veronica
> Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2011 11:00:52 +1100
> From: Karleen Gribble <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: Radiation and breastfeeding
>
> Hi Veronica,
> Thankyou very much for this information. It is wonderful to have such a
> great collection of people on Lactnet.
> The IAEA website states that authorities are distributing iodine in the
> event that there is radiation exposure- I presume that this is also a part
> of the emergency plan. Clearly at this point the recommendation is as per
> usual, that women continue breastfeeding. At what point would this
> recommendation change?? I have also asked my emergency nutrition colleagues
> for information. At the time of the last large nuclear accident infant
> feeding in emergencies as a speciality didn't really exists. Do you or
> anyone else know what happened re infant feeding after Chernobyl?
> Karleen Gribble
> Australia
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Lactation Information and Discussion
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Veronica Garea
> Sent: Sunday, 13 March 2011 8:32 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Radiation and breastfeeding
>
> Hi Karleen
> you said "I vaguely recall that some time ago we had a Lactnet member with
> expertise
> in lactation and radiation. "
>
> That would be me.
>
> The accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant (NPP) hass been
> classified as Level 4 in the INES scale
> http://www-ns.iaea.org/tech-areas/emergency/ines.asp "Accident with local
> consequences". By "local" the scale means on site.
>
> Accident management and emergency plans for facilities require evacuation
> even when there is no actual and current exposure risk. This is good
> practice.
>
> Mothers are not currently exposed to incorporation of radioisotopes. There
> is no reason to make any recommendation other than those pertinent for any
> emergency.
>
> I am following the situation as closely as I can. If there is any change in
> this information, I will let you know here in Lactnet.
>
> Best regards
>
> Veronica
>
> Veronica Garea, ME Nuc Eng, PhD Eng Phys
> Nuclear safety specialist and LLL Leader
> On Sat, Mar 12, 2011 at 4:23 PM, LACTNET automatic digest system
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