Okinawa Japan Bringing babies into a brave, new world

[John Visher <visherjc@crisscross.com>]

http://www.stadiumdebate.com/cgi/newscentral/FrameIt.cgi?url=http://www.okinawatimes.co.jp/index-e.html

OKINAWA

Saturday,August 7,1999
Saturday Evening Edition



 Bringing babies into a brave, new world



 Are mothers killing their babies softly with their love?

The concentration of dioxin in breast milk was found to be the lowest on
Okinawa compared to the other prefectures of Japan. In the nationwide
study conducted by
the Ministry of Health, however, the authorities stated that the area
comparison results were not considered to be conclusive because of the
lack of basic data in
breast?]feeding safety.

The MoH studied the levels of dioxin in a gram of fat contained in the
breast milk of mothers who gave birth to their firstborn in twenty?]one
areas, from Iwate
Prefecture in northern Japan down to Okinawa. Samples were collected
from the mothers on the thirtieth day after giving birth. They announced
that the average
concentration of dioxin was 22.2 picograms (one picogram equals one
trillionth of a gram).

Assuming that infants drink 120 grams of breast milk per one kilogram of
body weight, the average intake of dioxin was estimated to be 100
picograms, which is
twenty?]five times the tolerable daily intake of four picograms as
defined by government safety guidelines.

Among the areas of sampled, the highest average level was reported in
Tottori Prefecture, 29.5 picograms, and the lowest was on Okinawa, 13.4
picograms, more
than twice the difference between the two areas.

After the research, the MoH emphasized that it had no intention to
change policy of fostering breast?]feeding, saying "we have no
scientific background to alter our
stance." They explained that the figures should not be compared to the
government safety guidelines, which are determined on the basis of
entire lifetimes while the
normal breast?]feeding period is less than a year. They continued that
there was no evidence of any implication to infant health with the
dioxin intake measured by the
research.

The MoH will conduct a follow?]up study on the causes of differences
among regions. Comparing results of similar research in 1997, Ishikawa
Prefecture went down
by half and Osaka also decreased. The MoH concluded that dioxin
concentrations in breast milk were decreasing year by year.

Dioxin was recently determined a chemical substance whose presence in
the environment has a harmful hormonal effect on humans, one being a
possible cause in the
decrease of sperm count in men. Although the MoH does not plan to take
any action on breast?]feeding as a result of the research, lifelong
follow ups are considered
necessary and they need to seek out the reasons why there were
differences in the results of different regions.