Don't Trash Our Bodies!

By Christine Gross-Loh
Issue 122, January/February 2004

Is mothers' milk harmful for our babies? Recent headlines about toxins in breastmilk might have us think so. Two studies, published in August and September 2003, indicated that American women's breastmilk contained polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), commonly used as flame retardants in many consumer products, at levels 10 to 100 times higher than those previously detected in European women.1 Such information might give mothers pause when it comes to nursing their babies. Is breastfeeding still the best choice for our babies? The answer is, unequivocally, yes. But the recent news about PBDEs, one in a long line of environmental contaminants that have been discovered in human bodies, is yet another indication that we cannot be complacent about protecting our bodies, our children, and the earth they will inherit.

What Is the Issue?
Certain environmental chemicals are present in the human body, residing primarily in the adipose, or fatty, tissues. These fatty tissues are mobilized when a woman begins lactation. Of special concern are the persistent organic pollutants (POPs), which remain in the environment for years. These include dioxins, DDT and its metabolites, dibenzofurans, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The levels of DDT and PCBs have fallen thanks to the efforts of environmental activists of previous decades, but other chemicals continue to be widely used and contribute to our body burden. There is recent evidence that PBDEs are rapidly accumulating, as are phthalates, which are found in plastics, nail-care products, and other cosmetics. Certain solvents and toxic metals are also potential problems.2 A Centers for Disease Control (CDC) study released in January 2003 tested for 116 industrial chemicals and pesticides in the US population.3 Many more are certainly present in our bodies, but governmental regulation of the chemical industry under the Toxic Substances Control Act is such that "there is no legal requirement to test most chemicals for health effects at any stage of production, marketing, or use."4 Decades can pass before a chemical is banned, even though its dangers are evident far earlier, as was the case with PCBs.

Chemical contaminants have been circulating in the environment for decades. They are a legacy of the modern world, byproducts of industrial processes and our modern lifestyle. They enter the food chain, then enter our bodies through ingestion, inhalation, or absorption. Some are transported by sea or air currents to countries hundreds of miles from their origin. PCBs have been found in the Arctic, although they never have been used there.5 The Inuit of northern Canada have twice as much dioxin in their breastmilk as Canadian mothers south of them.6 Their body burden of POPs is among the highest in the world because of their diet, which is rich in the fat of marine mammals.7

While all humans are vulnerable, babies and young children are potentially more at risk from these contaminants than adults. Because of their size and much higher intake of fat-rich food, per pound, than older children and adults, babies consume a larger proportion of chemically contaminated food. Through a process called bioaccumulation, nursing babies take into their bodies a higher proportion of toxins than other living creatures because they ingest chemicals that have progressively accumulated at increasing concentration levels up the food chain. Chemicals bioaccumulate as plants are consumed by animals, which are consumed by humans. A human baby is on the receiving end of these concentrated chemicals, first through the placenta, then from the mother's breastmilk.

The Long-Term Ramifications of Chemical Pollution
There is no evidence that exposure to chemical contaminants in breastmilk at current typical levels results in harm. Numerous organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the World Health Organization, La Leche League, the World Wildlife Fund, and Baby Milk Action emphasize that breastmilk remains the far superior choice for infant feeding, even given what we know about the presence of contaminants in breastmilk.