Environmental Persistent Organic Pesticides in Human Milk from Lactating North Carolina Women
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Infants are exposed to environmental chemicals via many routes including ingestion of breast milk. Persistent organic pesticides are environmental chemicals that are found in measurable concentrations in human populations and biological media even though some of these chemicals have been phased out of use, production, or release to the environment. There are few studies quantifying human milk persistent organic pesticides especially in US populations and even fewer studies exist with repeated measures over time from the same individual. The US EPA Methods Advancement for Milk Analysis (MAMA) study developed and adapted methods to measure persistent organic pesticides and other environmental chemicals in milk and serum twice during lactation (at 2-7 weeks and 3-4 months postpartum) in 34 North Carolina women. Milk and serum were quantified for persistent organic pesticides (hexachlorobenzene (HCB), hexachlorocyclohexane (HCCH), oxychlordane, trans-nonachlor, DDE, DDT and Mirex). A majority of both the milk and serum pesticide samples contained pesticides at concentrations above limit of detection (LOD) , excluding serum HCCH. The majority of the chemicals did not show depuration (decreased amount of chemical between two points in lactation) in milk between visits; only HCB showed decreased concentrations in milk at the second clinic visit. Mean concentrations were highest for p,p’-DDE (163 ng/ml lipid in milk, 102 ng/ml lipid in serum) with Mirex having among the lowest concentrations (0.7 ng/ml lipid in milk, 0.9 ng/ml in serum). These data suggest that breast feeding North Carolina mothers are exposed to these environmental persistent organic pesticides and they can partition to breast milk.
This abstract is the opinion of the authors and does not represent EPA or NIEHS policy.