dioxin in mothers' milk

[Ferdinand.Engelbeen@ping.be (Ferdinand Engelbeen)]

Many of the dioxin-l readers are concerned of the dioxin content in
mothers' milk. We have only old figures, but the newer (1994) graphs we
have seen recently do give an average 30% less dioxin content for the
highest amounts and in near all (European) countries dioxin levels are
going down.

The figures are from the WHO (1989) and more recent for some European
countries (roughly from a graph, 1994).

>From lowest to highest all in pg/g fat in mothers' milk:

                 1989      1994

Thailand          4.9
New Zealand       5.8
India             6.0
Hungary          10.2        8
(ex)Yougoslavia  11.9
USA              16.6
Finland          16.7       17
Norway           17.8       11
Denmark          17.8       17
Austria          17.8       12
Vietnam          18.3
Canada           18.5
Poland           20.8
Sweden           22.0
Japan            23.9
Germany          32.4       17
UK               33.0       18
The Netherlands  38.5       22
Belgium          39.5       24

Interesting points: some possible changes in male fertility were seen in
Belgium, UK and Denmark, but not in Finland or Norway. The other countries
are unknown at this moment. Maybe 18 pg/g is the limit, or there are more
and/or other factors involved.

Influences from breast feeding:

In The Netherlands, 200 babies fed with mothers' milk and 200 others fed
with cow milk were followed during several months. The children fed with
mothers' milk received about ten times more dioxin (and PCB's). There were
only small differences seen in motoric behaviour after seven months and at
eighteen months the mothers' milk babies were equal. There were not seen
differences in neurological behaviour in the first months and mothers' milk
babies had an advantage in neurologic development after 18 months. The
experiment is still going on.

But as a result of this, there is still an advise to use mothers' milk,
because it has a lot of advantages, like more immunity against human
deseases, besides psychological advantages...

At the other hand, the amount of dioxin is high enough to induce a
detoxifying mechanism in the body, wich breaks down dioxin, but also
vitamin K. Vitamin K deficiency can be the cause of brain bloodings of the
baby. At this moment doctors in Belgium prescribe extra vitamin K together
with breastfeeding.

Ferdinand.Engelbeen

Ferdinand.Engelbeen@ping.be

Note: The Dutch government has developed a calculation model to predict the
dioxin content of cow milk from background deposition and point sources
like incinerators. That model is validated against real emissions and
dioxin concentrations in milk fat and works well.