查看文章

Human milk is the best source of nutrition for infants. Breast milk contains the optimal balance of fats, carbohydrates, and proteins for developing babies, and it provides a range of benefits for growth, immunity, and development. Unfortunately, breast milk is not pristine. Contamination of human milk is widespread and is the consequence of decades of inadequately controlled pollution of the environment by toxic chemicals. The finding of toxic chemicals in breast milk raises important issues for pediatric practice, for the practice of public health, and for the environmental health research community. It also illuminates gaps in current knowledge including a) insufficient information on the nature and levels of contaminants in breast milk; b) lack of consistent protocols for collecting and analyzing breast milk samples; c) lack of toxicokinetic data; and d) lack of data on health outcomes that may be produced in infants by …