Pesticide residues in mother’s milk

Abstract

Many chemical contaminants, particularly those that are lipophilic and of relatively low molecular weight, can accumulate in breast milk (Zhou et al. 2011). These contaminants arise from two broad categories: persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and organochlorine pesticides (OCPs). Both of them are generally stable toxicants and bioaccumulative and thus often ubiquitous in the environment. OCPs and POPs were extensively used in the past for agricultural, vector control, and industrial purposes for several decades. The potential health effects of these contaminants on both mother and child are of great concern, making it important to carefully monitor the contaminant levels and trends. More studies have been conducted in this area, but most of them are confined to small locations; therefore, it may not necessarily represent the actual population of the country where sampling was done. In addition, majority of these studies are restricted to the same panel of POPs, and therefore, the new or rising trends in contaminants that may impede effective public health responses are ignored.