Toxic Breast Milk? By FLORENCE WILLIAMS

Apparently you are what you eat. Ms. Williams wrote this article for a January 9, 2005 issue of the New York Times. In it she asks readers to imagine human milk from mammary glands with an ingredients label. Read down and one will see 100% of the nourishing and life-enhancing minerals and vitamins needed by babies. Keep reading. Tests show that along with the good comes the bad: trace amounts of of DDT (the persistent pesticide) PCB's, dioxin, trichloroethylene, perchlorate, mercury, lead, benzene, and arsenic.

Where is this coming from? Ms. Williams notes that the small amounts of paint thinners, dry-cleaning fluids, wood preservatives, toilet deodorizers, cosmetic additives, gasoline byproducts, rocket fuel, termite poisons, fungicides and flame retardants passed to infants comes from the mother's diet, neighborhood and, increasingly, her household decor.

Source: The New York Times