D.D.T. risk may force bottle-feeding — expert

Press, 1 October 1979, Page 9

D.D.T. risk may force bottle-feeding — expert

Nairobi g High aounts of the pesti- 1 tide DDTfound in the milk'h of nursfe mothers may) force 3<he nations to j r encourage'; a switch toil bottle-feed|g, a United] c Nations enjronmentalist has|s said. ' it

greater than acceptable! levels established by world; health authorities. A profound dilemma might face hundreds of millions of mothers in developing countries, Mr Thatcher said: Whether to continue the near-universal practice

Mr Peteri. Thatcher, dep- < uty director of the United s Nations Eifironment Pro- < gramme, sat the milk of f nursing mchers in somej countries had been found to i contain 25 Vnes as rnuchji DDT as cow’i milk. He saidi that gave bmst-fed babiesji daily doses far J c

of breast-feeding or to switch to cow’s milk or commercially-prepared infant formulas. He said the increased rates of infection and child; death resulting from poor! sterilisation of cow’s milk,! bottles, and water in devel-j oping countries would make;

a change to bottle-feeding an act of desperation. A World Heath Organisation report also has said the hazards of such a change would be serious and that breast-feed-ing should not be discouraged.

Mr Thatcher said measureable amounts of aldrin and dieldria, two other pesticides, as well as a range of industrial chemicals, had been (found in mothers’ milk by 'researchers working in more ! than 15 countries in the last decade, including the United (states, Canada, Japan, Guatemala, and Australia.