The troubling question of dioxin in human milk

[Philip Fleischer <philip@coc.powell-river.bc.ca>]

This is not as busy a list as it should be, just this list, or that
people don't like talking about dioxin.  Certainly I have noticed
beyond this list that people with responsibility for dioxin do not
like to talked about it.

In answer to a previous posting to this list, and in response to
direct requests for discussion/information/opinion on the question of
dioxin risk to nursing infants, I have recieved only one response of
any real substance.

Besides posting here, I have put the question to a public health
officials, including a public health physician, and 'professional risk
assessors'.

Apparently no one wants to take this up on this conference.   I did
get some private email response.  I can't help but suspect that the
use of a 'private response channel' is a meta-comment on the issue,
dioxin, and may be a prompt as to what one successful grass roots
strategy would be...

Some basic information is summarized here.

1.  A downward trend for most congeners of dioxins and furans in human
milk was noted by Furst et al. and is illustrated by a chart, the gif
of which is attached to this message.  This Mac gif is simply Eudora
attached and I am not sure how it will go through the list server or
be decipherable by any receipients but I suppose we will find out.

2. The EPA reassessment notes human milk TEQs of 16 pg/g (US small
study) and 31 pg/g (Germany, much larger study).  36.5 pg/g is
quoted in a recent risk assessment done in Canada.

3.  A Health Canada guideline for area fishery closures and
adviseries against consumption considers a level of 15 pg/g
for dioxin measured in fish muscle tissue and 30 pg/g in
liver/hepatopancreas tissue.

4.  Cow's milk as it comes from the supermarket, and many other foods,
contain varying levels of dioxin/furans.  Typical dioxin levels in
the foods which most regularly contain it (milk, beef,...) are a fraction
of a pg/g.  (In some areas, some fish are an exception, levels
exceeding the 15/30 Health Canada guidelines do occur and some of these
fish are consumed.)

5.  Although total daily intake guidelines where they exist tend to
be flat (they allow their 1 or 10 pg/kg of body weight per day equally
for all members of the population), it is also widely accepted that
dioxin presents more risk to the young or pregnant.  (Note: TDIs of 1
to 10 pg/kg of body weight per day are several orders more tolerant
than the 0.006 pg/kg of body weight per day point at which the EPA
has stated health risk can be measured.)

6.  The EPA and other sources have presented human intake levels
of 3 pgTEQ/kg of body weight per day as typical, and typical intake by
nursing babies as several times this.  Many babies on this continent are
be routinely taking in 20 times a "normal" or "acceptable" dose and
this represents a sizable proprotion of the total dioxin load they will
assume throughout life, be that short, long, or whatever.

humanMilk.gif

Philip Fleischer    Philip@coc.Powell-River.BC.CA    604/483-4701