Toxins in breast milk.
A collection of links and info for those concerned about toxins in breast milk. I think it should be important to remember that toxins are all around us and our babies will be exposed no matter what, so for once, it is really important that both formula feeding mothers and breast feeding mothers actually come together and campaign to reduce the number of toxins in the environment.
Don't trash our bodies! Researching breastmilk toxins - Breastfeeding.
Here are some excerpts from the above link.
There is strong evidence about the role of breastfeeding in reducing the impact of toxic chemicals. Several studies show that even when moms have levels of PCBs in their bodies that might damage their babies' health, breastfed babies do not show the effects of PCB exposure. Only babies who are red formula do. We don't know if the breastfed babies are more resilient due to beneficial compounds in the breastmilk, or whether it is because the developing fetus is much more sensitive to toxins than the nursing baby, or some other reason. Still, these findings give me confidence to say without hesitation that breastfeeding is best, and that babies benefit from breastfeeding."
Finally, Dr. Ruth Lawrence, MD, a well-known doctor and professor at the University of Rochester, author of Breastfeeding: A Guide for the Medical Profession (fifth ed.; Mosby, 1999), and one of the drafters of the American Academy of Pediatrics' official policy statement on breastfeeding, states that "breastmilk is so important in terms of brain and nerve development that babies who are breastfed achieve that advantage over bottle-fed babies. If there's a small detractor of these chemicals, it's totally washed out by the fact that breastmilk is so good for the developing brain.
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Despite the aggressive marketing practices of formula companies, there is much information available about the inferiority of formula to breastmilk. Yet some women may wonder if formula would be a better alternative to contaminated breastmilk, based on the belief that formula might be less contaminated with POPs than breastmilk is. The fats in infant formula are plant-based, and thus lower on the food chain. (28) Yet infant formula provides no guarantee that a child will be protected from exposure to dangerous substances.
Formula can be contaminated with dangerous toxic metals such as cadmium or lead, (29) with bacteria that causes sepsis or meningitis, with fungal toxins that cause cancer, of with weed killers, insecticides, and solvents. It can be diluted with polluted water that can cause diarrhea or other serious infectious diseases. (30) Aluminum, silicon, monosodium glutamate, and genetically engineered corn and soy have been found in many infant formulas, and all have the potential to do significant harm. (31) The use of bottles also increases the risk of toxic materials leaching from the bottle into the formula: phthalates and bisphenol-A are endocrine-disrupting chemicals that have leached into formula from bottles and cans. (32)
Furthermore, there are many uncertainties associated with formula use. For example, a recent study indicates that palm oil and palm olein, used in some formulas to imitate fatty acids found in breastmilk, may adversely affect bone development in infants. (33) Formula has been recalled for containing contaminants such as salmonella and glass particles, for causing gastrointestinal illness, and for being mislabeled or deficient in nutrients. (34) Even small amounts of supplementation by formula can increase the chance that a susceptible child will develop a sensitivity to cow's milk (35) or develop juvenile diabetes. (36) Finally, notes Judith S. Schreiber, PhD, senior public health scientist with the Office of the Attorney General, New York State Bureau of Environmental Protection, "in developed countries, reductions in mortality rates in breastfed infants have been estimated to range from about 2,500 to 5,000 per million infants when compared with formula-fed infants." (37)
Formula is associated with proven risks to a child's health and well-being. Breastmilk is not. There is no benefit in switching to formula because of worries about environmental contaminants. Dr. Jay Gordon, MD, a well-known pediatrician and author of several parenting books, including Listening to Your Baby: A New Approach to Parenting Your Newborn (Perigee, 2002), tells me, "Everyone should know that the standard is breastfeeding, and introducing artificial food to babies is just really a grand experiment we've been conducting for 50, 60 years. And it's not working. We've seen it can increase the incidences of everything from disease to allergies to malignancy." Dr. Ruth Lawrence agrees that breast is best: "The single most important reason for giving human milk to human infants is species specificity. It was meant for the human infant. It is precisely what the human infant needs in terms of brain growth, tissue growth, infection protection, all of the parameters.
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Some steps for minimizing your chemical body burden:
1. Eat a diet low in animal fats (including dairy products) to reduce exposure to fat-soluble POPs. When you eat animal fats, do so from organic sources as much as possible. If cost is an issue, prioritize organic animal products first, followed by plant foods such as vegetables, fruits, and grains. One recent study offers the most compelling proof yet that eating organic foods significantly reduces a child's intake of dangerous pesticides, so encourage your children to eat an organic diet as well. (44)
2. Reduce your consumption of freshwater fish to minimize exposure to PCBs and mercury. (45) Remain aware of advisories and make choices accordingly. (For information on advisories, see here ) Also, minimize consumption of commercial fish that are high in mercury, such as swordfish, shark, mackerel, and tuna steaks. Farmed salmon has also been reported to have high levels of PCBs.
3. Avoid alcohol and cigarette use while pregnant and breastfeeding. In addition to other health concerns, contaminant levels have been found to be higher in women who smoke and drink. (46)
4. Limit or avoid using pesticides in your home and on your lawn. For information about alternatives, see here, here, and here.
5. To minimize exposure to solvents, avoid non-water-based glues, paints, furniture strippers, gasoline fumes, and nail polish. Also reduce exposure to dry-cleaners or recently dry-cleaned clothes. (47) For links to environmentally friendly products, see www.ecomall.com.
6. Most important, take heart in the knowledge that your decision to nurse your baby is not only a sound personal choice, it is an important sociopolitical action. Breastfeeding is the most ecological way to feed your baby. The production, packaging, and promotion of formula actually contribute to pollution from pesticides, dioxins, and fertilizers, thus increasing the level of toxins in the environment. (48)
7. Since many of the chemicals evident in breastmilk are symptomatic of a long-term problem that cannot be solved solely through short-term changes of lifestyle, take what action you can to stop the chemical pollution of our environment. Engage in awareness campaigns about chemical contaminants. Urge local schools to stop using pesticides and toxic materials. Get in touch with a nonprofit group working on this issue. Write to your [MP] to express your support of the Stockholm Convention. Question embedded societal fears about breastfeeding to break through the silence about body burden. Is breastfeeding so precarious in our society that vital information--without which we cannot produce any change--is withheld from us?
Finally, don't fear the information about chemicals in mothers' milk. This information should always be viewed as statements on environmental contamination, not contaminated breastmilk. Harness your energy to eliciting change from the corporations that pollute our environment and the governments that are slow to stop chemical pollution at its source. Take inspiration from the words of Sandra Steingraber, author of the book Having Faith: An Ecologist's Journey to Motherhood: "Finding non-toxic alternatives for each and every toxic substance now contaminating mother's milk should be a national priority. It will not be unless we nursing mothers and breastfeeding experts demand it. The demand requires that we be unafraid of public conversation about breastmilk contamination ... indeed that we seize control of the debate and shape it. Otherwise, those who don't understand the necessity of breastfeeding will use the issue of breastmilk contamination for their own purposes without realizing that they are further undermining the sacred communion of mother and child." (49)
It falls upon all of us to spread the message that breastfeeding is one of the most important ways we contribute to our children's health and well-being. All of us, as a society, will benefit when we ban the chemicals that are polluting our environment.
( http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0838/is_122/ai_112352798 )
The Ecological Impact of Bottle Feeding by Andrew Radford, Baby Milk Action.
Some exerpts:
Giving up breastfeeding in response to dioxin levels is self-defeating as artificial baby milks contain high levels of aluminium and lead, and many of their common ingredients such as cotton seed oil, sunflower oil and beef tallow are likely to be contaminated with dioxins, pesticides or other toxins. Moreover, a decision in favour of artificial milk will lead to increased pollution and dioxin levels, as this report will show.
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Breastmilk is free, requires no extra packaging, is ready to use, does not have to be shipped across the world (but is easily transported if necessary), protects against infection and does not need the huge amount of promotional materials produced to sell baby milks. Breastmilk is completely environmentally safe; not to use it is a waste of a valuable resource.
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More bottle-fed babies means more deforestation, soil erosion, pollution (including by dioxins and other toxins) climatic changes and wasted resources. Breastfeeding has a positive effect by providing a renewable resource and by preventing other forms of damage to the environment in the form of increased population and wasted materials, for example.
( http://www.abm.me.uk/ecoimpact.htm )
Natural Resources Defence Council - Breastmilk.
This link provides information and further links about toxins, pollution and breast milk. I will list them and use excerpts (for those who can't be bothered to read the whole thing lol).
First things, first. It's not time to panic, and not time to stop nursing. In almost all cases, the health benefits of nursing far outweigh the potential problems from POPs. But it is time to learn more about the problem, and ultimately to take social and political action to protect our children's children from facing a more difficult choice when it's their time to care for a newborn.
The Cycle of Hazardous Chemicals
Products of the pesticide and chemical industry that eventually end up in breast milk enter the environment in a variety of ways -- through their intended use, in accidents such as spills or explosions and through waste disposal. Once in water, soil or air, they may break down (biodegrade) or accumulate. Some chemicals are not easily broken down in nature and persist essentially unchanged for decades.
Health concerns for the formula-fed infant include the risk of contaminated water, potential contaminants in bottles and nipples and contaminants in the formula itself. In many parts of the world, water is polluted with high levels of microorganisms that can cause diarrhea and other serious infectious diseases. Even in developed countries, contamination of water supplies by parasites (cryptosporidium and giardia) and bacteria (such as e coli) can be very dangerous for an infant whose undeveloped immune system cannot tolerate exposure to these disease-causing invaders. As a result, infants can become ill, even die, from formula reconstituted (or diluted) with water.
Other common contaminants in water include chlorine byproducts, weed killers, insecticides, solvents, lead and arsenic. In rural areas, nitrates from fertilizer runoff into water have caused the sometimes fatal "blue baby syndrome.
Finally, baby formula is the product of a large, and for most mothers, unnecessary industrial process, all of which adds to pollution in a variety of ways large and small. The list includes production plants that pollute, trucks that burn polluting diesel fuel, the use of harmful pesticides and genetically modified organisms to grow soy and cattle fodder, packaging that contributes to deforestation and pollution and more -- all in service of a product that is both nutritionally and developmentally inferior for infants.
( http://www.nrdc.org/breastmilk/ )
Baby milk action resource centre.
Full on links and information about toxins in breast milk.
( http://www.babymilkaction.org/resources/contaminants.html )
Breastfeeding and environmental contaminants - Kelly mom.
Another page full of links and info.
( http://www.kellymom.com/health/chemical/env-contaminants.html )
Hopefully, this is a fairly decent amount of information regarding toxins and breast milk. It has been gathered from all over the web, so enjoy reading!!!!!
Katie
Here is the BFN's page on 'contaminants in breastmilk'