NZ mothers' milk now better than ever

By ANNE BESTON

Chemical contamination of New Zealand women's breast milk has fallen by about two-thirds in just over a decade.

A Ministry of Health study shows that in comparison with eight other countries - Britain, Sweden, Norway, Canada, Pakistan, Ukraine, Scotland, Belgium - New Zealand women's breast milk has the third-lowest concentrations of dioxin and chlorinated pesticides.

The study of 53 mothers, begun in 1998, followed similar methodology to a 1988 study so a comparison could be made.

The latest findings are that dioxins, PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and chlorinated pesticides had decreased in New Zealand women's breast milk by about 70 per cent.

Head of Nutrition at Auckland University Medical School, Associate Professor Lynnette Ferguson, called the study's findings "good news."

"I think it's particularly reassuring for New Zealand women that it's been done and that it shows significant decreases in the levels of these contaminants over the past 10 years.

"We have always said breastfeeding was the best way to go, so even if there was a problem in the past, it's nowhere near as much of a problem now."

Plunket's northern area general operations manager, Colleen Fakalogotoa, said the report's findings showed chemical contamination in New Zealand was declining.

"For women out there, the best thing they can do is breastfeed their babies; it's safer now than it's ever been."

Ms Fakalogotoa said there was evidence that, even if babies were bottle-fed, they showed the same levels of dioxin in their bodies by the age of 10 as babies who were breastfed.

Persistent organic pollutants like dioxin have been linked to a variety of health problems, including reproductive and developmental abnormalities, immune disorders and cancers.

Also measured in the breast milk study were polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), once widely used in industry but now mostly prohibited.

The other contaminants measured were organochlorine pesticides, which include DDT and dieldrin.

These have been phased out in New Zealand since the 1950s.