>Wow! Sandra.
>So, will a breastfeeding mother eventually eliminate all contaminants from
>her own body?
>If she breastfeeds enough children, long enough, can she eliminate even newly
>acquired contaminants?

>Laura Wright
>Jackson, MS

------------------

I doubt all lipid-soluble chemical contaminants could be eliminated
with breastfeeding, although breastfeeding is the most efficient way
to purge such contaminants.  There is one study in the literature
from Finland that found that the third-born child was exposed to only
70 percent of the PCBs and dioxins of the first-born.  The 8th, 9th,
and 10th children received only 20 percent as much.  (T. Vartianen et
al., "PCDD, PCDF, and PCB Concentrations in Human Milk from Two Areas
of Finland," CHEMOSPHERE 34(1997): 2571-83.)

Having babies early in life, having a lot of them, having them in
rapid succession, and breastfeeding them for as long as possible is a
sure-fire method for reducing breastmilk contamination.  But I
suspect I'm not alone in finding this strategy too high a price to
pay for accomodating ourselves to the ongoing pollution of the human
food chain.
--
--

Sandra Steingraber, Ph.D.
Visiting Assistant Professor
Program on Breast Cancer and Environmental Risk Factors
110 Rice Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY  14853
[log in to unmask]
www.steingraber.com

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