Steingraber's lament about dioxin is full of problems. I'd like to see the research showing that fat cells from the liver and abdominal fat apron are mobilized into breast milk IF the mother is eating to meet her hunger cues during lactation. My understanding is that mothers lay down fat reserves *during pregnancy* to support the lactation, and that those fat reserves are there for use ONLY IF the mother doesn't eat enough after the baby is born. So mothers who eat plenty after the baby is born do not mobilize stored fat that was laid down during pregnancy, let alone stored fat that was laid down during childhood. This is why so many women have trouble losing their pregnancy weight gain post-partum. It is a great system for insuring that there is enough fat for breast milk production even during times of famine, drought, crop-failure, etc. In today's western world, where most women have plenty to eat, that pregnancy fat is not mobilized during lactation for most women. Also, consider this, any time during your life when you lose a lot of weight, you mobilize the fat stores laid down up to that point. Example: when I left the US for six months of research in Mali in June of 1989, I weighed about 175 pounds. When I returned to the US in December of 1989, I weighed 132 pounds. At 5'9" of height, that meant I had lost almost all my body fat. I had no breasts. You could clearly see all my ribs and my collarbones. My rings fell off my fingers and my watch was way too big. Even my shoes were too big. Thus, I had purged my body of all accumulated fat (and therefore dioxins) prior to getting pregnant with and breastfeeding my youngest. I gained weight in 1990 before I got pregnant with him (up to 175 again) and during the pregnancy (up to 199). I never lost any of that weight until chemotherapy in 1999, where I went back and forth between 200 and 185 four different times. I'm hovering around 200 pounds, as I type. That means no body fat was mobilized during Alexander's 5.5 years of breastfeeding, from 1991 to 1996. So I guess that means he got very little or NO dioxin in my breast milk. Another example is my daughter Miranda, who was 9 years old when she accompanied me to Mali in 1989. She weighed a pudgy 95 pounds when we left for Mali, and weighed a skeletal 65 pounds when we returned six months later, thanks in large part to a nasty bout of malaria. So at the age of 9, she had certainly purged her body of all accumulated fat up to that point. She has lost about 30 pounds in England so far this year, do in part to an ulcer (!) -- again, she is purging her body of most if not all toxins stored in fat between the ages of 9 and 20. So when she gets pregnant, she will not, in fact, have a "lifetime's" worth of dioxin to put into her breast milk. As far as I can tell, this woman (Steingraber) is manipulating and using the 'sacredness' of breastfeeding and breast milk as a strategy to further advance her crusade against dioxins. The ends (with which I agree) do not justify the means, in my humble opinion. Final note -- although oxytocin is *released* FOLLOWING orgasm, I am unaware of any research that substantiates her claim that oxytocin "controls" female orgasm. If anyone knows of any research, please post it. Female orgasm feels nice. Oxytocin is released following orgasm. There is no evidence that oxytocin is in any way related to the pleasurable feelings of orgasm. Consider the reaction of women in labor being given pitocin through their IV. Are they moaning in ecstasy?? Also, Steingraber says she is an advocate FOR breast cancer. I don't think this is what she means. She is fast and loose with her facts, and not careful with her word choices. Too bad, as these problems certainly detract from her purpose in getting the world to stop creating dioxin. Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Anthropology and Nutrition Texas A&M University _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com *********************************************** 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