Breastfeeding Mum Alert!!

"Toxic anti-fire chemicals used to coat common household goods are seeping into breast milk in Australia at levels higher than in some overseas countries, environmentalists have warned.

The fire retardants, known scientifically as PBDEs (polybrominated diphenyl ethers), are used to protect a wide range of goods including computers, televisions, chairs and mattresses.

But the chemicals, which are fat soluble and build up in our bodies, have also been linked in overseas studies to cancer and problems with sex hormones and brain development."

Read the above from this link provided by a friend in Australia.

*GASP* *pace up and down and up and down*

The info in there is kind of worrying. Are we breastfeeding mums poisoning our little ones unknowingly??!! The facts from that article is based on findings in Australia and Europe, so what about Singapore??? Does our household items also contain this harmful chemical?? Probably so.... since it is a widely used fire retard agent.

Further search on "PBDEs" online yielded more information such as :

"The data from Sweden show a drastic increase in the quantity of PBDEs detected in women's breast milk. Since no definitive data regarding the health effects of children's exposure to PBDEs in breast milk have been published, it is not possible to draw conclusions regarding the impact of these rising levels. However, enough is known to raise concerns. Like the dioxins, furans, PCBs, and organochlorine pesticides, PBDEs are bioaccumulative and persistent. Unlike these other chemicals, no serious international efforts are under way to ban these hazardous chemicals. The trend toward higher levels in breast milk signals a need for immediate action to stop human exposures, before the levels rise higher and risk compromising the safety of children's first food. Toward that end, other monitoring studies in other countries will help clarify the scope of the problem."

"We tested 40 Northwest mothers for PBDEs--chemical flame retardants widely used in consumer products such as furniture and computers--and found in the breastmilk of every woman in the study, at levels much higher than in other countries."

"These dangerous chemicals may impair the intelligence and motor skills of children and disrupt thyroid hormones, which are critical to proper brain development in utero and during early childhood"

However, in the midst of all these scary info available on this harmful agent, there are also some consoling articles such as:

"Why Breastfeeding is still best for baby"

Now ain't the above information just gonna add on to the list of things which we mummies have to worry about?? I think I can be promoted in my alternative employment as a "worried mother" to an "insanely worried mother"......

Now I see this statement "to overly love your child, you may sometimes be doing more harm than good" in a different light. We love our children, that's why we did not choose the easy way out of feeding them formula. We persist on, even when breastfeeding give us great inconveniences especially for working mums like me. However, seems like this sacrifice which we did for our little ones may subject them to some dreadful harm....

My eyes are crossed now from reading those links above. >_< When they are looking straight again, I'll try to do more research on information available locally. I don't mind if other mummies want to chip in and help do the research and post the information on their own sites.