> I consider myself pretty
> well versed in breastfeeding issues, and have been involved with LLL for many
> years, and I am wondering why something this upsetting has not been raised
> over and over again, especially by those wishing to negate the positive
> aspects of nursing.

Honestly said, I'm also surprised by the lack of knowledge I find here on LactNet
about this issue.

In the Netherlands this has been a hot topic for years, though the last couple of
years it has been pretty quiet on this (except for the big dioxin scandal in
Belgium in 1999, see http://www.who.dk/envhlth/dioxin/dioxin.htm). After each
media report, the breastfeeding organizations (LLL and VBN) get  many calls. So,
we both have booklets about this and all bf counsellors are pretty good infomed
about environmental contaminants in breastmilk.

I guess this has never been a big issue in your own country, so the urgue to
inform you has never been that strong.

However, I think it is important to know more about this.

For you personal I would like to say that yes, this is a scary issue, but still it
has been shown in many studies that breastfeeding babies do much better. Maybe it
is good to know that -at least here in the Netherlands, the PCB levels in
breastmlk are dropping for the last 10 years. Dutch and Belgium women have the
most contaminated human milks in the western world. So, the findings of the
research that has been conducted here (for the WHO) cannot be worse in your
situation.

A table from the WHO can be found at:
http://www.ping.be/~ping5859/Eng/ChlorineDiTox.html#Milk


regards, Annelies Bon
Toxins in human milk: http://www.borstvoeding.com/abon/bf_toxins.html

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