Js. Lakind et al., Infant exposure to chemicals in breast milk in the United States: What we need to learn from a breast milk monitoring program, ENVIR H PER, 109(1), 2001, pp. 75-88
The presence of environmental chemicals in breast milk has gained increased
attention from regulatory agencies and groups advocating women's and child
ren's health. As the published literature on chemicals in breast milk has g
rown, there remains a paucity of data on parameters related to infant expos
ure via breast-feeding, particularly those with a time-dependent nature. Th
is information is necessary for performing exposure assessments without hea
vy reliance on default assumptions. Although most experts agree that, excep
t in unusual situations, breast-feeding is the preferred nutrition, a bette
r understanding of an infant's level of exposure to environmental chemicals
is essential, particularly in the United States where information is spars
e. In this paper, we review extant data on two parameters needed to conduct
realistic exposure assessments for breast-fed infants: a) levels of chemic
als in human milk in the United States land trends for dioxins/furans); and
b) elimination kinetics (depuration) of chemicals from the mother during b
reastfeeding. The limitations of the existing data restrict our ability to
predict infant body burdens of these chemicals from breast-feeding. Althoug
h the data indicate a decrease in breast milk dioxin toxic equivalents over
time for several countries, the results for the United States are ambiguou
s. Whereas available information supports the inclusion of depuration when
estimating exposures from breast-feeding the data do not support selection
of a specific rate of depuration. A program of breast milk monitoring would
serve to provide the information needed to assess infant exposures during
breast-feeding and develop scientifically sound information on benefit s an
d risks of breast-feeding in the United States.