Jodine,
Thanks for sending the link to the Toronto Star article on Sandra
Steingraber.  You questioned the quote <<Research also shows breastfed babies
have a weaker immune system than others, she says.>>

I would question it too. I don't know what SS said in the interview, but I
checked the indexed mentions of "immune system, fetal and newborn" in her
book "Having Faith" (one of my favorite books!). There is one section--out of
the eight that the index points to--where she reports on a study that found a
deficit in immunity when comparing breastfed to non-breastfed children in the
Netherlands. By age 18 months, the breastfed children of mothers with the
highest levels of PCBs had detectable, though subtle, changes in their immune
cells, and by three and a half years, they were more likely to have had
chicken pox and multiple ear infections.

However, other studies, such as among the Inuit people in Northern Canada,
found that breastfed babies did show better immune protection from infections
than non-breastfed babies, despite the contamination of human milk.

All the other discussions of the developing immune system in the book
emphasize the important role of breastfeeding in building immunity. Most
mammals have deficient immune systems at birth, and their mothers' milk
compensates for this deficit and helps the offspring to develop its own
immunity.

The main point of the book, and of the article, and I assume of the lecture,
is SS's assertion that pollution violates women's and children's right to
breastfeed, and that we need protest from the grassroots and from civil
society to bring this point home to governments and corporations.  Here's a
great link to this year's World Bf Week topic of globalization!

At least the Star article ends strongly:

<<In her book, Steingraber issues a call to arms to mothers of the world to
protect their breast milk from chemical contaminants.
                   "There is no substitute for mother's milk," she says.
"Mothers and feminists have to make this issue an international priority.">>

Yours in the struggle,
Chris Mulford, RN, IBCLC
working for WIC in New Jersey
Co-coordinator, WABA Women & Work Task Force


             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html