Bottle rockets: Is a polluted breast still best?
Amid growing concerns about environmental contamination and chemical exposures, women are starting to wonder if breastfeeding is still the best choice. It is, by quite a bit. But that answer is not as reassuring as you’d think.
Omnivorous human females sit at the top of the food chain; above us, the tiny point of the pyramid, are our breastfed infants. We consume piscine predators like tuna and shark, resource-intensive meat like beef and pork, plants from all over the globe, and no small amount of dairy. As a result, we pick up every bioaccumulating toxin that’s out there, from dioxin to rocket fuel to PCBs.
Most of those toxins are stored in our fat. And they emerge when we lose weight, and when we lactate. Since those often go together, there’s a lot of bad stuff in breastmilk. It’s heavy on pesticides, parabens, flame retardants, and dioxins. I’m not going to list it all here, but you can check out this detailed article from Environmental Health Perspectives. Or, just take my word for it that it’s an ugly and depressing list.
But, this is the thing. You decided to bring a baby into this dirty, polluted world. So did I; I’m not judging. You decided, like I did, that for all its complexity and contamination, this world is full of joy and fascination. It’s worth being here, whatever the risks.
All the options for feeding your baby come from this same beautiful, damaged world. Cows are lower on the food chain, but industrial dairy has its own set of contaminants, even if you go with organic formula. Organochlorine pesticides and perchlorates, among other things. Soy formula mimics estrogen in its effect on an infant body. The long-term studies on soy are still being done, but it doesn’t look good. Aside from flaws with other types of infant feeding, breastmilk still protects your child from SIDS, ear infections, diarrhea, diabetes, and heart disease. The data still strongly supports breastfeeding.
How can we protect mothers’ milk?
On a global level, we can improve breastmilk by working for a cleaner, safer environment. Push for protective legislation, reduce any harmful consumption of our own, and patronize businesses with good environmental practices. That is the work of a lifetime, right there.
On a personal level, you can minimize your own exposure to harmful chemicals to protect your breastmilk as best you can. Some contaminants, like dioxins and PCBS, have been accumulating in your body for your entire life. There’s nothing you can do about it now. You can, however, at least make sure you don’t any more exposure.
The National Resources Defense Council recommends avoiding cigarette smoke, alcohol, solvents, dry cleaning, animal fats, and high-mercury fish, as well as eating organic as much as possible. I’d add perfume and perfume products, and any toiletries containing parabens to that list. Avoiding parabens is very hard in the US, as opposed to Europe where they are now banned, but I think their risks make the effort worthwhile. Countless hungry, healthy babies would likely agree.
Alanna Shaikh has been working in public health and international development for the last decade. She has a master’s degree in public health from Boston University, and she’s passionate about environmental health. Alanna currently lives in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, with her parents, husband, and three-year old son. Read her blog at bloodandmilk.org or follow her on Twitter.
Image: fikirbaz via Flickr
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