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THE NEW YORK TIMES. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 1977 Chemical Contamination of Breast Milk Is Viewed With Concern By FRANCES CERRA Froehlich, executive secretary of La' s. Discovery of contamination of human . Leche League. . ,, J breast milk with dangerous chemicals Miss Froehlich pointed out that Food jr such as DDT and PCBs has raised ques- and Drug Administration tests have C tions about the wisdom of breast-feed ing. particularly for women living in certain parts of the country'. The contamination has been con- also found contaminants in formula, among them lead. Also, the water sup ply in many parts of the country is far from pure, and the water is mixed with powdered formula. . firmed through tests of breast milk jrsamDles taken from 1,400 women in v46 ; in 1976 by the Environmental Prc,, m Agency, and by still incom- ? pleie tests conducted by that agency 1 and the New York State Department, ip of Health. Based on a preliminary re port of some of these findings last-fall, | Dr. David Rahl, Director of the Nation- 4 al Institute of Environmental Health. Sciences, said, "I don't think I'd tell . "It is true that there have been no studies to show whether there is an effect on human babies of ingestingcontaminated breast milk," said Joseph Hyland of the Environmental Defense .. Fund, "but we do have animal data and a background of biological, knowl- edge that gives us reason for concern. Thereshould not be an automatic decision to breast-feed." - ... /;ji ; nursing mothers to make any changes The Fund, which has been campaign > in their breast-feeding now. But we're ing for years for the banning of many.... /going to have to get more E.P.A. and pesticides, is among those' who view. I independent data ... so we can have i a better idea what to advise. - ` -'rfX.-y the E.P.A. research findings with con levels: 10 times higher than the daily cern. ". intake recommended by the Food and The 1976 E.P.A. tests found average levels of pesticides in the women test* ed that all exceeded the Acceptable' Daily Intake levels established by the World Health Organiztion for adults. There are no such levels for infants. Among these pesticides were DDE, the form in which DDT is stored in theH' body fat, Dieldrin and Heptachlor epox ide, all of which have been shown to. cause cancer in animals, ; - Drug Administration for infants. In addition, preliminary tests by the New York State Department of Health found levels five to 10 times higher than the E.P.A. averages in women who regularly eat Lake Ontario fish. These findings have been viewed by the de partment with particular alarm because of experiments conducted at the Uni versity1 of Wisconsin by Dr. James Allen, a pathologist. In the experi The E.P.A. has not yet completed its' ments, rhesus monkeys were fed analysis of breast milk samples of, PCBs for six months and then bred. PCBs, an industrial chemical used for/ In a telephone interview. Dr. Allen said years to make such things as electronic! it was difficult for the monkeys to get products and carbonless copy papers; pregnant, and about half of them had and discharged by manufacturers into1" spontaneous abortions within the first rivers and lakes including the Hudson?, two months of pregnancy. The infants and Lake Ontario. But preliminary re||; that were bom were fed by their moth- suits for 80 women showed averaggj&d ers, who no longer were receiving . " ''V' "'-'.'"rF--.. V;, t "v .....I. I :'tv:;-'.. ; PCB's in their diets, and within four months, he said, half of the infants were dead. The survivors showed signs of hyperactive behavior and learning difficulties, and were very susceptible to infections. "If I were a physician who had women under my surveillance who were living along the Great Lakes or the Hudson River area where they were eating fish four or five times a week, I would suggest they put their infants on formula," said Dr. Allen. . The New York State Health Depart ment has not gone as far as Dr. Allen in making such a recommendation, but a study of 500 women is under wav to "try to identify a population of women who have high levels of PCBs in their milk and are likely to be plac ing their infants at risk," according to Dr. David Axelrod, Director of the De- But Benefits Stressed There has been no further official " word from the government, and propo- f; nents of breast-feeding such as La !J Leche League continue to stress the Vmany proven benefits of breast-feeding ' over bottle feeding. It is clearly cheaper , to breast-feed than to buy formula, for - example, and nursing mothers enthusi- ' aj describe the emotional and vjfS gical joys of doing so. For * baDies of parents with allergies, and '/who might be allergic to formula or * cow's milk, breast-feeding is also clear1..___ _________________ -- -.-i:____________ i /authorities. Most medical studies have also J shown that the breast-fed baby is more resistant to disease, and recent re search on the composition of breast J milk has shown that it contains amino uacids and fats different from those found in cow's milk and formula. ..``If you weigh the known immunolog- _ nutritional and psychological benefits of breast-feeding, we believe they far outweigh the risks, which at Diet Suggestions fori; Women Breast-Feed M . For a woman concerned about the ter cooked the meat is, the lower its!; way of ridding their bodies of the However, "Birthright Denied" includes possibility that her breast milk is or fat content aiid the less likely one isff: chemicals.'. . as bench marks the World Health Or will be contaminated, there are steps to eat pesticides. Residue tests by theii; One way to avoid the dangers of ganization's accepted daily intake to take, although their effectiveness United States Department of Agricul|?? contaminants may be to breast feed levels of pesticides. and necessity is still being debated. Food is the major source of such con taminants as DDT and PCB's, and modifying the diet is the major recom mendation of La Leche League and the Environmental Defense Fund. PCB's are found in heaviest concen tration in fish that have lived in fresh water. The Fund recommends eating no such fish! La Leche recommends eat ing fish no more than once a week. Salmon, carp, catfish, flounder, sole, eels and striped bass are suspect. Ocean fish, such as cod and haddock, are usually free of PCB's, according to the Fund. . The food sources of pesticides are meat, dairy products and fish. Pesti cides and PCB's concentrate in the ture found the highest levels of con- : only briefly. This idea and others are taminants in beef, veal, chicken and/ discussed in the Fund's booklet "Birth- turkey, and the lowest in sheep, goats/.; right Denied," which thoroughly de- and pigs. ; - ; .%& scribes the pros and cons of both breast The Fund recommends eating low-fat!' ' feeding and- formula feeding. For for- dairy products, such as skim milk, and/; mula feeding, the booklet even describes avoiding butter, cream, ice cream and/,-, on how to filter contaminants out of high-fat cheeses. It also recommends;.;/ water used in making formula. The major problem with all these!/,ii fense Fund, 1525 18th St., N.W., Wash- recommendations, however, is that no/ - jngtbn D.C. 20036. Stocks have been one knows how long it takes to rid'/ depleted and-it may be a month before the human body of chemical contami-S more are available, according to the nants. The chemicals are stored in fat)||' Fond. ...: , . deposits, and it may take years for :/- A woman may consider having her them to be eliminated. Ironically, be-b/ . milk tested for contaminants, although cause breast feeding draws down the-fej many experts say there is not enough, The WARF Institute, a subsidiary of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foun dation in Madison, Wis., does such test ing. Researchers there urge women to have their doctors take a sample be cause physicians are likely to know better how to keep it free from con tamination. But if a woman wants to do it herself, she should obtain a 10cubic-centimeter vial with a top. The vial and breast pump should be washed with alcohol. After the vial is filled, a piece of aluminum foil should be put under the cap. It should be sent to WARF by airmail express an an in sulated bag with something inside to keep it cold. The fee for the test is $50. ' The address of WARF is P.O. Box 7545, Madison, Wis. 53707. partmen's Division of Laboratories a:v. Research. He said a recommendsiiu, against nursing would be made to woman's physician if levels of PCB were found which were equivalent P those which caused harm in the Wis consin tests. ... "It's true that this allows for no safe ty margin," said Dr. Axelrod. Standard- for human intake are usually set at one-hundredth the level that causes nc harm in animals. Preliminary results of the New York State tests also showed evidence oi breast milk contamination by Mirex a pesticide used to control fire ants Also a carcinogen in animals, this sub stance has been shown to produce non reversible cataracts in the offspring of rats and mice who were fed Mirex while nursing their babies. - New Survey Planned ~ According to Jerome Blondell, health statistician with the E.P.A., the agency will soon begin sending ques tionnaires to the 1,400 mothers it test ed in 1976 to try to get an answej to the most urgent question raised by the findings of contamination: Have babies of mothers with high chemical levels suffered short-term ill effects! The agency also plans to do a new survey of more women. . Until further information is forth coming. Dr. Jean Pakter, head of Mater nity Services at the New York City Department of Health, urges women not to be "sidetracked" from breast feeding. "I think it's unfortunate that this hysteria is being worked up," she said. "The amounts of contaminants being found are small, and unless a woman has an unusual diet : or lives in certain areas, she need not be con cerned." * The Environment Defense Fund, for its part, has published a booklet called, "Birthright Denied:' The Risks and Benefits of Breast-Feeding;" and in cludes in -it: "The ultimate decision (on whether to breast-feed) must' reside with each set of parents;; no `expert* can dictate the`right' course to take.^, hpn vTsrmm rrrr-n 6 HP PCB-ARCH-EXT0378596