(I'm forwarding this with permission. Diane Wiessinger) *** I am a family physician in Seattle who focuses on lactation (clinically, research, public health activities, etc). In the world of breastfeeding, I co-chair the Breastfeeding Coalition of Washington, serve on the board of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine and represent ABM on the US Breastfeeding Committee. [log in to unmask] 2/21/04 11:46:09 AM Hello all you wonderful people who promote maternal-child health, I'm writing to give you advance notice about a press release scheduled for 2-24 to report the findings of a study to quantify toxic flame retardants in the milk of nursing mothers in the Puget Sound area. It is similar to and provides results similar to other studies that made national headlines in the past several months. My purpose in sending this info, and asking you to send it to all who you know in the lactation support community, is so we will be prepared to respond quickly and in a well-informed way to questions from moms, health care providers, and reporters. I also want to reassure you that the researchers have demonstrated great care in collecting and reporting this data so as to avoid sensationalism, particularly to help people keep persective on the reasons why breastfeeding remains the healthiest way to nourish human infants, and focus attention on the need to clean up the environment---not ditch breastfeeding. As examples of this, they sought out and have been very responsive to guidance from the lactation-support community, maternal-child health experts, etc. They plan to have nursing mothers visible at the press release, including women who were found in the study to have high levels of PBDEs. 2 Seattle-based nonprofit conducted the study to assess the burden of toxic flame retardants, known as PBDEs, in Puget Sound residents. As in studies of PBDEs in other areas of the country, milk was chosen as the body fluid to study for logistical reasons (because it is easiest and cheapest to study), and because if offers a window on maternal body burden and thereby fetal exposure, a time of particular sensitivity to many toxins. Researchers suspect that PBDEs are fetal toxicants: in laboratory animals, exposure to PBDEs at a critical stage of early brain development causes permanent behavior aberrations and learning deficits. PBDE levels in the United States appear to be rising quickly, and are already 10 to 100 times as high as are found in Japan and Sweden. The lead reseracher wanted me to reassure you about 2 points. First, everyone involved with this study agrees that breastfeeding is healthiest for babies and mothers; the problem is not breastmilk, it is a polluted environment that exposes everyone--even developing fetus--to toxic contaminants. Great pains were taken in the report to emphasize that breastfeeding is still the healthiest choice for babies and mothers, and that public policy needs to discourage pollution while promoting breastfeeding. Second, there are resources and fact sheets that you can use to answer questions that mothers may have questions about contaminants in breast milk. Among the best are: Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility has several fact sheets for both physicians and mothers about pollution and breastfeeding. They are available in both English and Spanish, at: http://psr.igc.org/ihw-download-materials.htm#ihwFactSheetDwnld The Breastfeeding Coalition of Washington's summer 2003 newsletter, Breastfeeding Matters, has an excellent overview of the PBDE issue available at: http://www.hmhbwa.org/pdfs/BCW_newsl_summer2003.pdf The study report, press release, and related materials will be available at the following website by the day of the press conference, if not the day before: www.northwestwatch.org/pollution. Best wishes, MaryAnn *********************************** MaryAnn O'Hara, MD, MPH, MSt, FABM Clinical Assistant Professor of Family Medicine University of Washington [log in to unmask] *********************************************** 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(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html