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C  O N TA M I N A N T S

BREAST MILK

IN

SW1

What Is It?

What

BENCHMARK

This indicator is a measure of the levels of potential

Complete a regional baseline of

contaminants (such as pesticides) found in human

contaminants in breast milk and

breast milk. In recent years, health and environmental

establish a routine screening program.

scientists have documented the occurrence of

numerous synthetic chemicals in breast milk1,2. Use

of some of these chemicals is now restricted or

TA R G E T

banned; and, as environmental concentrations have

decreased, so have concentrations in breast milk.

Maintain average human breast milk

However, some chemicals persist in the environment

contaminant levels within or below

and in the human body long after application or

World Health Organization Allowable

exposure. Such chemicals--as well as many in current

Daily Intake Levels (ADI).

use--continue to show up in mothers' breast milk.

Of particular concern is a class of long-lasting

RED FL AG

chemicals known as persistent organic pollutants

(POPs). Examples include the insecticides chlordane

Any breast milk contaminant levels

and DDT, dioxins and furans (inadvertently produced

above

above the ADI.

through the burning of plastics and other materials),

plus polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), once widely

used in hundreds of commercial applications. Widely

Goals associated with the breast milk indicator

used agrochemicals have also been raised as a

include:

particular concern in the Mesoamerican Reef region.

· Determine the composition and concentration of

The metric presented here is contaminants in

environmental contaminants, including agricultural

breast milk, but additional development of this and

biocides, in breast milk;

other human health metrics linked to environmental

· Determine the potential sources of contamination

contamination is encouraged.

(food, drinking water, cisterns, waste incineration

Why Do We Measure It?

Why

and landfills);

Human health indicators, such as contaminants in

· Determine the relative risks of the contaminants to

breast milk, can provide early detection of potential

infant health and development; and

marine-based contaminants, thus identifying marine

· Incorporate findings into public health interventions

ecosystem degradation and ultimately reducing

and environmental mitigation strategies.

associatedhumanillness.Identifyingpotentiallinkages

between contaminants found in the environment and

How Do We Measure It?

in humans also helps raise awareness and garner

support for mitigation measures.

Most basic health indicator data (demographic and

mortality data, for example) are collected by the

Crop-protection and pest-management contaminants

Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) as well

have been found in subsistence fish and invertebrates

as several national agencies in the MAR countries.

from the Mesoamerican Reef. Establishing the

But few data are available for health indicators with

connection between agrochemical contamination of

specific links to marine ecosystems, especially on

reef organisms and contamination of human breast

levels of contaminants in human tissues or bodily

milk with these same agrochemicals provides a

fluids.

straightforward yet poignant example of the linkage

between eco-health and human health. Environmental

To fill the data gap, a study of approximately 200

contamination originating from the burning of medical

women in Belize was begun in late 2006, through

and municipal waste is also a potential source of

a partnership between Haereticus Environmental

contamination in humans (e.g., mercury, dioxins,

Laboratory and the Smithsonian Institution, in

furans).

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