Breastmilk contamination is NOT the problem!
There are over 80,000 industrial, human-made, synthetic chemicals now present in the environment, including 3,000 high-volume substances (PCBs, cosmetics, pesticides, cleaning compounds, medications, dioxins and furans).
Our bodies contain most of these substances. For example, just about everyone in North America carries multiple pesticide residues. Almost none of these compounds has been tested for their effects on human health, and none of them has been tested in combination.
Breastmilk, not surprisingly, also contains many of these substances as contaminants. Recently popular and scientific attention has been focussed on this fact, because breastmilk is easy to sample, and because the breastfeeding dyad is a potent symbol of human sensitivity. Environmental groups have often used breastmilk contaminants to highlight their general message about ecological degradation.
Unfortunately, this tactic has led to the perception that the effect of breastmilk contamination on the developing infant is the problem; other sources of exposure have receded into obscurity. Unscrupulous formula manufacturers, eager for any bad news about breastfeeding, have headlined this perspective.
However, the best research shows that prenatal exposure is, on average, ten times worse than breastmilk exposure.
The work of Dr. Eric Dewailly in Canada and of Dr. Joseph Jacobson in the U.S. confirm this basic truth. Both researchers laboriously distinguished between the effects of pre-natal and post-natal exposure. Both showed that contaminant exposure in maternal blood caused the same or far greater damage to the fetus than 10 fold higher exposure in breastmilk. This damage, measured as impaired neurodevelopmental function, was present for years after (and possibly for life).
So when mothers ask about the role of breastmilk contaminants in human health, tell them: “ the only way to avoid damage from contaminants present in breastmilk is to not get pregnant. That’s because contaminants showing up in breastmilk in significant levels have already done far worse damage to your baby in your womb.”
The real message of breastmilk contamination is: STOP THE RECKLESS DEGRADATION OF OUR PLANET WITH UNTESTED CHEMICALS AND DON’T STOP BREASTFEEDING!!
—Warren Bell, Physician, President CAPE
www.cape.org
In order to preserve and protect the environment for breastfeeding mothers and their children, our newsletter is printed on chlorine-free/acid-free paper, containing 30% post-consumer recycled stock.
You be the judge…
Found in infant formula but not in breastmilk
Bacterial Contaminant Number of Outbreaks
Enterobacter sakazakii SEVERAL – in a number of countries
Salmonella bredbeney 2 – Australia and France
Salmonela ealing 1 – UK
Salmonella Tennessee 1 – USA and Canada
Salmonella virchow 1 – Spain
Salmonella anatum 1 – UK and Europe
Found in breastmilk but not in infant formula
Antibacterial factors active against a large range of pathogenic bacteria including E. coli, B. pertusis, Salmonella species, Staphylococcus species and H. influenza Secretory IgA, IgG, IgM, IgD, Free secretory component, Growth factors, Factor finding proteins, Complement C1-C9, Lactoferrin, Lactoperoxidases, Lysozyme, Unidentified factors, Nonimmunoglobulin, ß-defensin-1, Ganglioside GM1, Ganglioside GM3, Phosphatidylethanolamine, Sialyllactose, Mucin, Sialylolligosaccharides, Glycoproteins + oligosaccharides, Glycoproteins, Kappacasein, Phosphorylated beta-casein, Xanthine oxidase, Alpha-Lactalbumin, Glycolipid, Gb3, Sulphatide, Fucosylated oligosaccharides, Analogues of epithelial cells, Lewis antigens, Soluble bacterial pattern recognition receptor CD14, Milk cells – macrophages, neutrophils and lymphocytes, Secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor, Heparin
Antiviral agents active against a large range of viruses, including HIV, hepatitis, rotavirus and Rubella. Secretory IgA, IgG, IgM
Antiparasite factors active against such organisms as Giardia lambia, Entamoeba histolytica, Schistosoma mansoni and Plasmodium falciparum.
Secretory IgA, IgG, Lipids, Lactoferrin, Unidentified compound, Macrophages.
Information derived from the Science, Technology & Engineering website and from the Proceedings of Breastmilk and Special Care Nurseries: Problems and Opportunities Conference. 1995, Melbourne, Australia.
