Re: dioxin in breast milk

["Jon Campbell" <jon@cqs.com>]

Hello, Jamie

        (In the data which follows, when I say "dioxin" or refer to a
concentration of it, I am speaking TEQ - Toxic Equivalent). Breast milk
contamination is worldwide in scope and universal, especially in the
industrialized countries. According to the data collected for the 1994 EPA
dioxin reassessment (a part of which is now posted at www.cqs.com), typical
breast milk contamination is at levels of 20 ppt lipid (that is, 20 parts
per trillion in the fat part of the milk)[from Dioxins and Health by
Schecter, page 474]. This, according to Schecter, represents an infant
intake of 34-53 picograms per kilogram of body weight per day for a
breast-feeding infant, or about 200 picograms per day for a 7 kg [15 pound]
infant. That is 10-100 times as much (per kg body weight) as a typical adult
in the U.S.

          Using the EPA's "maximum acceptable daily dose" as a guide, a
breastfeeding infant will get a lifetime adult dose of 8000 picograms in a
mere 40 days of breastfeeding, and will have a body burden of dioxin
(>10,000 pg/kg) exceeding most adults in a single year of breastfeeding.

           Now you know one of the reasons I'm a dioxin activist. These
numbers are genuinely frightening. See Environmental Health Perspectives
102, pages 962-66, supplement 1 pages 159-71 and 135-47. For a good summary
of the findings, see Dying From Dioxin by Lois Gibbs of CCHW.

          I have seen only a few recommendations regarding breastfeeding
other than my own. While I am not a doctor or epidemiologist, when I see the
kind of numbers quoted above, I cannot in good conscience advise meat-eating
people in the industrialized areas of the world to breastfeed. (Women who do
not consume meat, especially those in developing countries, have a much
lower body burden of dioxin and lower contamination in breast milk).
-----Original Message-----
From: Jamie Smith <jamie@ksvc.com>
To: Multiple recipients of list <dioxin-l@essential.org>
Date: Tuesday, February 17, 1998 10:28 AM
Subject: dioxin in breast milk


>
>I am trying to find information about dioxin contamination of breast milk.
>I am aware of a 1986 AJPH study showing that 25 percent of American women
>have so much dioxin in their milk that it would be considered too
>contaminated to be bottled and sold. Does anyone know how I could obtain a
>copy of that study?
>
>I have also heard that the percentage of women with contaminated breast
>milk is now much higher than 25 percent. Does anyone know of a more recent
>study on the levels of dioxin in breast milk?
>
>Thanks for your help,
>
>Jamie
>
>