Mom's Breastfeeding May Expose Baby to Harmful, Toxic Chemicals

It turns out that mothers may be feeding their babies toxic chemicals. Scientists have found that a widely used class of industrial chemicals linked with cancer and interference with immune function build up in infants by 20 to 30 percent for each month they're breastfed.

In this case, the chemicals are perfluorinated alkylate substances, or PFASs. They're largely used to make products resistant to water, grease and stains. They're been in use for more than 60 years in products such as stain-proof textiles, waterproof clothing, some food packaging, paints and lubricants. They're also known to contaminate drinking water in the U.S. near various production facilities.

Now, though, it seems as if children are being affected by these chemicals. The scientists followed 81 children who were born in the Faroe Islands between 1997 and 2000. They looked at levels of five types of PFASs in their blood at birth and ages 11 months, 18 months and five years. They also looked at PFAS levels in mothers of the children at 32 weeks of pregnancy.

So what did they find? In children that were exclusive breastfed, PFAS concentrations in the blood increased by roughly 20 to 30 percent each month, with lower increases among children who were partially breastfed. In some cases, children's serum concentration levels of PFASs exceeded that of their mothers'. With that said, after breastfeeding, the concentrations of PFASs decreased.

"There is no reason to discourage breastfeeding, but we are concerned that these pollutants are transferred to the next generation at a very vulnerable age," said Philippe Grandjean, one of the researchers, in a news release. "Unfortunately, the current U.S. legislation does not require any testing of chemical substances like PFASs for their transfer to babies and any related adverse effects."

The findings are published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.

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