<<"Human milk is like ice cream, Valium, and Ecstasy all wrapped up in two pretty packages.">> Yeah, I cringed at that line, too, as well as some of the other wording Valerie pointed out. I never said it was a perfect article! But I think it did a good job, overall, of drawing attention to a significant concern about our world. <<Although I have never seen a picture of infants at the top of the food chain in any biology book.>> Exactly! That's the point! The potential danger of toxins to nursing babies is easy to overlook because we're used to thinking of an adult human as being the last creature to unwittingly take in environmental toxins. But that isn't the case; a child who nurses is feeding, whether breastmilk is technically classified as a food or not. For that matter, a fetus taking nutrients through the placenta could be on the rung between the adult and the nursing child. <<Shouldn't we be talking about the risks of toxins during pregnancy rather than this huge focus on toxins in breastmilk?>> Why can't we talk about both? I think most pregnant women have a pretty good idea of the risks of toxins during pregnancy. But how many of them who avoided eating swordfish or having their houses treated for termites during pregnancy know that it could be beneficial to continue to avoid such things while lactating? (And maybe even forever, especially if they plan more children.) <<Contamination and health impacts of toxins to the infant mostly occur during pregnancy not during breastfeeding.>> True, prenatal life is the critical period of toxin exposure for any particular infant, and, as far as I'm aware, research hasn't shown a link to long-term adverse health effects due to contaminated breastmilk. (Hooray for breastmilk!) But when it comes to the *overall* health impact of a population of infants throughout their lifetimes, especially female infants, then I think researchers do need to study this aspect of breastfeeding, as uncomfortable as it may make us. Fat-soluble toxins present in the mom's tissues are mobilized during milk production and are passed to her infant, and some contaminants do slip more easily into breastmilk than through the placenta. Moreover, the number and type of contaminants present in a woman's milk are related to her lifetime body burden. So although today's nursing infants may not be adversely affected, who knows whether, due to biomagnification, those infants' descendents might? It's a sad and scary thought to me. Propaganda technique or not, fear can motivate people into concern and action. I freely admit to being afraid that future mothers may be unable to breastfeed without worrying. And I'm furious that in a relatively short 100 years or so, potentially life-threatening industrial pollutants have permeated so much of our existence. When I was nursing my children, I thought my breastmilk was pure and absolutely perfect. When I found out that it had most likely contained some PCBs and dioxins, I felt violated and mama bear-ish. I confess I didn't pay much attention to environmental issues until they became personal in this way -- and that's why I think there must be other breastfeeding mothers out there who don't know about toxins in human milk but who, if educated about them, would press for change in order to help protect breastfeeding for their own children and grandchildren. At the same time, we breastfeeding advocates will be there to point out that all of the health organizations and researchers emphasize that, despite toxins that breastmilk may contain, formula is far inferior to breastfeeding, is subject to contamination and manufacturing tragedies, and that breastmilk in fact will help infants cope with a polluted world. Jennifer Herrin, RN, IBCLC Heidelberg, Germany *********************************************** 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