Breastmilk: the perfect renewable resource
"The undermining
of breastfeeding is the destruction of a natural resource and
should therefore be seen in the same light as logging in the
rainforests or overfishing our seas and rivers."
-Andrew Radford, 1991,
in the Ecological Impact of Bottle Feeding.
 ive
years after the Rio Earth Summit, politicians are having another
go at the state of the environment. Yet during the past five
years, promises made to reduce pollutants have fallen far short
of agreed goals. As politicians are again stretching the limits
of truth on this five year anniversary, it is appropriate for
us to consider the ecological impact of infant feeding practices.
In examining these issues it astounds us how the simplicity,
the convenience, the readiness, the total completeness, the sustainability
of breastfeeding is so perfect compared to the waste, expense
and degradation - both to humans and to the environment - of
artificial feeding. Current renewed interest in environmental
issues gives us opportunity to advocate that legislation to protect
breastfeeding is also legislation that protects the environment.
With continued depletion of rain forests, damage to the ozone
layer and chemical toxicants in our air, food, water and soil,
breastfeeding with all its benefits, ranging from health, to
social and economical, is without question the only safe, sustainable
and environmentally suitable means to feed babies. And to acknowledge
this, the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) has
chosen the environmental theme as its topic for World Breastfeeding
Week 1997, Breastfeeding: Nature's Way.
For this issue we have chosen some examples to highlight the
Breastfeeding Environmentally Friendly theme.
 Breastfeeding
is a sustainable renewable resource that is free and creates
no waste. On the other hand artificial feeding products are non-renewable,
create waste, require costly packaging and shipping, and need
expensive fuel to prepare.
If 50%
of infants born in Canada (total births about 400,000 per year)
are bottlefed for six months, then more than 15 million tin cans
would be discarded.
Breastfeeding
reduces fertility rates and prevents more births than all other
forms of birth control combined. In Africa breastfeeding prevents
an average of 4 births per woman. In Bangladesh breastfeeding
prevents about 6.5 births per woman. Chilean women, exclusively
breastfeeding for six months, reported no pregnancies while of
those bottle fed, 72 per cent became pregnant.
A breastfeeding
woman needs only to consume a few hundred extra calories per
day to produce adequate breastmilk. An extra sandwich, or slightly
larger meals and additional fluids per day can easily be met
with nutritious locally available foods.
The production
of artificial baby milks requires hundreds of millions of lactating
cows. In India alone, to replace breastmilk, 135 million lactating
cows would be needed. In Mexico to produce 1 kilogram of baby
milk would require 12.5 square metres of cleared land.
Although
energy required to boil water and sterilize bottles and nipples
can readily be accessed in industrialized countries, it more
often than not comes from polluting nuclear or power generating
stations. In poor countries women often spend hours every day
collecting scarce firewood. A bottlefed baby needs about 1 litre
of boiled water to prepare feeds and 2 litres to sterilize the
bottles and nipples. This requires more than half a kilo of precious
firewood per day.
Breastmilk
over the past has been vilified because of the presence of environmental
toxicants. This clearly is a signal that environmental pollution
needs serious addressing. However, to switch to artificial feeding
is not a viable response. In addition to all the negative health,
economic and safety consequences, artificial feeding products
are themselves rank with contaminants.
Phthalates,
a chemical used in the production of plastic, has been identified
in all 15 brands of infant formulas, tested by the Ministry of
Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in Great Britain. Nine of the
brands tested had levels high enough to result in reduced sperm
counts in rats.
In New
Zealand four leading scientists have raised serious concerns
about the high levels of phytoestrogen hormones found in soy
based formulas. In some cases the levels were found to be greater
than amounts required to disrupt the menstrual cycle of premenopausal
women. The scientists recommended that routine sales of soy formulas
be stopped.
Soy based
infant formulas sold in Canada are contaminated with extremely
high levels of aluminum. In some cases the aluminum intake of
formula fed infants can be as much as 1000 times higher than
the intake of breastfed infants. Health Canada researchers have
estimated that aluminum ingested by infants fed unmodified cow's
milk or human milk exclusively is 2 3 micrograms per day, whereas,
infants fed soy based formulas ingested on average 1260 micrograms
per day. Infants fed cow's milk based formulas consumed an average
of 82 micrograms per day.
Infant
formulas are also subject to bacterial contamination. Researchers
from the Netherlands cultured infant formula samples from 35
countries. Bacteria from the Enterobacteriaceae family, known
to cause neonatal meningitis and sepsis, were found in 52.5 per
cent of the samples tested. Infant formulas are also subject
to repeated recalls because of microbial contamination. In 1993
Health Canada issued recalls for both Enfalac and Soyalac. Ready
to serve cans of Enfalac were removed from shelves when consumers
complained of a sour smell. The formula was "underprocessed"
and spore forming pathogenic bacteria, Bacillus cereus had survived
the deficient processing. The powdered Soyalac was contaminated
with Salmonella tennessee, capable of causing severe illness
in infants.
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A World Breastfeeding Week
Action Kit is available from INFACT Canada. |
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Radford, A The ecological impact of bottle
feeding. Baby Milk Action, 1991
Frank, J. W., Newman, J. Breastfeeding in
a Polluted World: uncertain risks, clear benefits. Canadian Medical
Association Journal. 149:33 37, 1993
MAFF, 1996. Food surveillance information
sheet number 83. Phthalates in infant formulae. UK Ministry of
Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.
Irvine, C. et al. The potential adverse side
effects of soybean phytoestrogens in infant feeding. New Zealand
Medical Journal 108: 208 209, 1995
Dabeka, R.W., Mckenzie A.D. Aluminum levels
in Canadian infant formulae and estimation of aluminum intakes
from formulae by infants 0 to 3 months old. Food Additives and
Contaminants, 1989
Health and Welfare Canada, News release, "Warning
Against Consumption of Enfalac Infant Formula," March 27,
1993Health and Welfare Canada, "Warning Against Consumption
of Soyalac Infant Formula Powder," May 20, 1993 |
