I wish to bring some clarity to the scientific meaning behind the word “toxin”. In fact, a toxin is of biological origin, a poisonous substance produced by a living organism, snakes, insects for example. It can be ”poison” on the other hand if a substance is of chemical nature–one that can cause damage on a molecular level to living organisms.
“287″ and the toxic body burden has everything to do with poisons and little if anything to do with toxins. Yet we use the kinder, gentler “toxins” in our daily lexicon–scientists including.
The producers of chemical substances will rarely if ever refer to their products as poisonous falling back on the dosage claim i.e. it is too small to be poisonous. The truth is most exceed the amount allowed in our bodies over several exposures (bioaccumulation) and remain there awaiting to exact their fate; this is called chronic poisoning. There is a legal definition to the word poison–it differs to the scientific one.
We must allow ourselves to use the word “poison”–even if it is too alarmist. We would not be incorrect by scientific standards.
It is important when advising mothers about environmental toxins and their presence in breastmilk that the health importance of human milk over inferior infant formula is reiterated so that the mother does not panic and refrain from breastfeeding or using expressed milk.
Toxins and harmful bacteria are also present in infant formula, it is vital that mothers are also advised about this when making one of the most important decisions that affects their childrens present and future health outcomes. For further info on contaminants in infant formula & human milk please refer to the following:
http://www.naba-breastfeeding.org/images/Contaminants.pdf
http://www.kellymom.com/health/chemical/index.html
http://www.llli.org//Release/contaminants.html
Pgs 4&5: http://envirocancer.cornell.edu/Newsletter/pdf/v8i2.pdf
By: Sarah Hosking on February 2, 2008
at 5:13 pm