By Lisa Poisso
Media Scare of the Week #246: Mother’s breast milk is full of environmental contaminants capable of causing harm to our babies. True? Yes — but nobody recommends not breastfeeding because of it.
According to the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action, testing infants from virtually anywhere in the world today would uncover a body burden of industrial toxins including dioxins, PCBs, mercury, phthalates, pesticides, flame retardants, bisphenol A and other dangerous substances. But it’s not just breast milk that’s in danger: environmental toxins are everywhere. Because testing breast milk is a cheap and convenient way to look for chemical contamination, it is often used as an easy way to demonstrate the toxic load of our bodies overall. “Chemical residues found in breast milk are like the messenger, the canary in the mine, telling us about the body burdens found in everyone,” WABA relates.
Human milk is hands down the best bet for babies, even considering contaminants, says Dallas physician and lactation expert Dr. Maria Blois. “The alternative, artificial milk (or formula), has a much worse track record for impurities than even the most contaminated milk from a human breast,” she explains. “In addition, artificial milk has none of the built-in protective properties that human milk provides: protection against infection, some types of cancer, diabetes and obesity, to name a few.”
Even the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reminds mothers not to let media attention on environmental toxins scare them away from breastfeeding. “Breastfeeding is still recommended despite the presence of chemical toxins,” the agency reports. “To date, effects on the nursing infant have been seen only where the mother herself was clinically ill from an toxic exposure.”
Blois urges mothers who are concerned about contaminants in human milk not to stop breastfeeding their children but instead to advocate for a reduction in environmental contaminants worldwide. National advocacy groups such as MOMS – Making Our Milk Safe mobilize mothers across the country to increase awareness of environmental toxins and protect our families from their effects.
Learn More
World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action
Kellymom: Environmental contaminants
September 28, 2011 at 5:19 pm
BS. This study was obviously made by the formula companies. They tell us that there are contaminants in the breast milk but no traces of hormones and antibiotics in cows milk?.