Analysis: Oregon Breast Milk Contaminated

[CountAllVotes]

<< PORTLAND, Ore. - The breast milk of Oregon women is contaminated with a high level of toxic flame retardants known as PBDEs, researchers say.

A new analysis by the California Environmental Protection Agency and the Seattle-based research group Northwest Environment Watch compared the PBDE levels in the breast milk of 40 Pacific Northwest mothers with the levels of another toxin and chemical cousin, PCB.

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDEs, are used as a flame retardant while polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, are a class of chemicals used in insulating fluids for electrical equipment before they were banned in the late 1970s after studies indicated they cause cancer.

The analysis of breast milk samples showed that 30 percent of the mothers tested in the Northwest study had higher levels of PBDEs than PCBs.

The analysis, released Thursday at the "Dioxin 2005" international conference in Toronto, suggests that PBDE contamination may be surpassing the level of PCB contamination in humans and the environment. >>

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050826/ap_on_he_me/toxic_breast_milk

No wonder so many children and people are being diagnosed with cancer at such an alarming rate. High concentrations in breast milk found now. Is there any way to avoid this?

[Jackpine Radical]

1. Due to environmental toxins, people

are no longer fit for human consumption.

[moc]

2. Okay, here's my problem with this

and I have many.....

I have no idea what "elevated" means or whether the levels are connected to anything in the future. As far as I know, there has been no research that has linked these levels in any case control study to show it's predictive of any negative health or developmental outcomes whatsoever. Saying "No wonder so many children and people are being diagnosed with cancer at such an alarming rate" is not supported by these kind of data.

There is also no comparative data with exposures of infants who are formula fed.

Sorry to rain on your parade, but this kind of alarmist information doesn't serve any purpose other than to discourage breastfeeding, and for no good reason as far as I'm concerned. The fact of the matter is that the health benefits of breastfeeding for mother and infant have been routinely demonstrated and the effects are much stronger than anything implied by the kind of data re: PCBs.

(FWIW, I'm an assoc. prof in a school of public health w/ a doctorate in maternal and child health. One of the environmental health guys pushing the toxic breastmilk lines is in my office. I've had these same arguments with him.)

[ordinaryaveragegirl]

4. I totally agree...

And wouldn't be surprised if this study was at least partially underwritten by a pharmaceutical company - aka formula manufacturers. I'm not an expert, but am a mother of two (and one on the way), and will have breastfed all of my children. The American Association of Pediatrics and World Health Organization both advocate breastmilk as a primary nutritive source for children up to 1 (AAP) or 2 (WHO) years of age. I also know quite a few people who are La Leche leaders and RN's/lactation consultants, and they wouldn't be too quick to put much stock in those statistics without seeing both BF and FF babies included.

:::stepping off my soapbox:::

[CountAllVotes]

5. it frightens me very much

I have six people that live nearby where I live (within 1 block) that have died of cancer in the last 2 years or so. One of them is a retired farmer that uses a lot of chemicals on his garden and eats this food he grows; I found out yesterday the cancer has now spread to his bones.

If there are high concentrations of these cancer causing agents in human breast milk, it makes me tend to believe that there are also the same levels of concentrations in other things, like the food and water we consume.

I am not seeking an argument. I posted this out of concern for our children. If human breast milk is contaminated with high levels of these cancerous toxins, something must be done is my hope. What can be done? That is my question.

[Oreegone]

3. Here is something to read that might change your mind

http://www.oztoxics.org/ntn/breastmilk.html

Prior to this study, PBDEs were detected in pooled blood samples from Australians aged 31-45 years. Overall concentration ranged from 6.7 ng g -1 lipid in a pooled sample collected from females from the South region to a maximum of 18 ng g -1 lipid in a pooled sample collected from males in the West region. The concentrations of PBDEs in Australian sera are high when compared to concentrations reported in European milk or blood. PBDEs have been shown to disrupt thyroid hormones, mimic oestrogen, and are linked with cancer and reproductive damage.(1)

(1)Fire Retardant, Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), UNEP Chemicals, Regional Reports of the Regionally Based Assessment of Persistent Toxic Substances Program (2002) UNEP Chemicals 11-13, chemin des Anemones, CH-1219 Chatelaine, GE Switzerland. Available from <http://www.chem.unep.ch/pts>