“while taking every precaution”: Plato, quoted in Naomi Baumslag and Dia Michels, Milk, Money, and Madness: The Culture and Politics of Breastfeeding (Westport, Conn.: Bergin & Garvey, 1995), p. 40.
“If a man has given his son to a wet-nurse”: Quoted from C. H. W. Johns, Babylonian and Assyrian Laws and Letters (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1904), p. 61.
Even today, a child born in a developing country: Baumslag and Michels, Milk, Money, and Madness, p. 8.
mortality rates reached 50 percent: Claire Tomalin, Jane Austen: A Life (New York: Knopf, 1997), pp. 7-9.
Jane Austin’s story: Tomalin, Jane Austen, pp. 7-9.
Some sources claim this is where the term farmed out: Baumslag and Michels, Milk, Money, and Madness, p. 46.
“the bread and butter”: For this quote by John Keating and a good overview of the early days of pediatrics, see Rima D. Apple, Mothers and Medicine: A Social History of Infant Feeding, 1890-1950 (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1987), p. 55ff.
“good Swiss milk and bread”: As quoted in Apple, Mothers and Medicine, p. 9.
rise of germ theory: For a good discussion of this and its influence in separating humans from nature, see Linda Nash’s Inescapable Ecologies: A History of Environment, Disease and Knowledge (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006).
mother was sent home with a pat on the back: “Infant Food, Nestle’s Lactogen,” National Museum of American History, at http://ameri canhistory.si.edu/collections/object.cfm?key=35&objkey=110 (accessed October 12, 2011).
“It just didn’t seem fair”: Marian Thompson, quoted in Margot Edwards and Mary Waldorf, Reclaiming Birth: History and Heroines of American Childbirth Reform (Trumansburg, N.Y.: Crossing Press, 1984), p. 88.
“You didn’t mention ‘breast’ in print”: Edwina Froehlich, quoted in Emily Bazelon, “Founding Mothers: Edwina Froehlich, b. 1915,” New York Times, December 23, 2008.
In Ghana, only 4 percent of women: Laurie Nommsen-Rivers, research assistant professor, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, author interview, October 2010. For Sacramento rates, see Nommsen-Rivers, “Delayed Onset of Lactogenesis among First-Time Mothers Is Related to Maternal Obesity and Factors Associated with Ineffective Breastfeeding,” Journal of Clinical Nutrition, vol. 92, no. 3 (2010), pp. 574-584.
the activists asserting we’re in the midst of “a biocultural crisis”: Dettwyler, “Beauty and the Breast,” p. ix.
“And in any case, if a breast-feeding mother”: Hanna Rosin, “The Case against Breast-Feeding,” Atlantic, April 2009, accessed online at http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/04/the-case-against-breast-feeding/7311/.
formula confers the same average loss in points: Herbert L. Needleman et al., “Deficits in Psychological and Classroom Performance of Children with Elevated Dentine Lead Levels,” New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 300, no. 3 (1970), pp. 679-695.
Two major reviews of the literature: Christopher G. Owen et al., “Effect of Infant Feeding on the Risk of Obesity across the Life Course: A Quantitative Review of Published Evidence,” Pediatrics, vol. 115, no. 5 (2005), pp. 1367-1377; and S. Arenz, “Breast-Feeding and Childhood Obesity—A Systematic Review,” International Journal of Obesity, vol. 28 (2004), pp. 1247-1256.
CHAPTER 9 • HOLY CRAP
“O, thou with the beautiful face”: Susruta Samhita, quoted in Valerie Fildes, Breast, Bottles and Babies: A History of Infant Feeding (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1986), p. 14.
equivalent of one thousand light trucks: Daniel W. Sellen, “Evolution of Infant and Young Child Feeding: Implications for Contemporary Public Health,” Annual Review of Nutrition, vol. 27 (2007), pp. 123-148. Also, see A. M. Prentice and Ann Prentice, “Energy Costs of Lactation,” Annual Review of Nutrition, vol. 8 (1988), pp. 63-79.
“Breastfeeding is a form of matrotropy”: Sandra Steingraber, Having Faith: An Ecologist’s Journey to Motherhood (Cambridge, Mass.: Perseus, 2001), p. 214. (Note, the more conventional spelling for this is matrotrophy.)
In the old days, people used to measure milk output: In fact, some doctors told women the only way to be absolutely certain their babies were getting enough to eat was to weigh them before and after every feed, including the two-in-the-morning one. It was another highly effective incentive to switch to formula.
In a paper describing the work: Jacqueline C. Kent et al., “Breast Volume and Milk Production during Extended Lactation in Women,” Experimental Physiology, vol. 84 (1999), pp. 435-447.
In addition to recruiting the good bugs, these sugars prevent the bad bugs: A quick word about the use here of “good” and “bad” bacteria. As scientists learn more about the role of microflora in our bodies, these terms appear somewhat reductive because what the scientists really mean is the overall healthful balance of bugs. I continue to use these terms, though, because that is the way people described them to me and it still seems apt enough when talking about the role of milk sugars and microbes.
a dreadful disease called NEC: Information on NEC and premature babies from Lars Bode, assistant professor of pediatrics, University of California, San Diego, author interview, October 2010.
“We’ll take little tiny droplets of milk”: Video by CBS/ Smartplanet. com, August 26, 2010, can be accessed at http://www.smartplanet.com/video/is-the-cure-for-cancer-inside-milk/460136.
There are ten times more microbacteria in our guts: Roderick I. Mackie et al., “Developmental Microbial Ecology of the Neonatal Gastrointestinal Tract,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, vol. 69, no. 5 (1999), pp. 1035S-1045S.
Nearly a billion people don’t live near clean drinking water: World Health Organization, “Global Health Observatory: Use of Improved Drinking Water Sources,” available at http://www.who.int/gho/mdg/environmental_sustainability/water_text/en/index.html (accessed October 2011).
One Japanese company: For information on this and other products being developed with lactoferrin and marketed, and the economic analysis, see Vadim V. Sumbayev et al. (eds.), Proceedings of the World Medical Conference: Malta, September 15-17, 2010 (Stevens Point, Wisc.: WSEAS Press, 2010), available at http://www.wseas.us/e-library/conferences/2010/Malta/MEDICAL/MEDICAL-00.pdf.
HAMLET kills forty different types of cancer cells in a dish: Catharina Svanborg et al., “Hamlet Kills Tumor Cells by an Apoptosis-like Mechanism—Cellular, Molecular and Therapeutic Aspects,” Advances in Cancer Research, vol. 88 (2003), pp. 1-29.
several studies found: For example, see X. O. Shu et al., “Breastfeeding and Risk of Childhood Acute Leukemia,” Journal of the National Cancer Institute, vol. 91, no. 20 (1999), pp. 1765-1772; for a more recent (and somewhat less enthusiastic) review of this literature, see Jeanne-Marie Guise et al., “Review of Case-Control Studies Related to Breastfeeding and Risk of Childhood Leukemia,” Pediatrics, vol. 116, no. 5 (2005), pp. e724 -e731.
donor milk is used mostly in neonatal intensive care units: For
an interesting discussion of markets for breast milk, see Linda C. Fentiman, “Marketing Mothers’ Milk: The Commodification of Breastfeeding and the New Markets in Human Milk and Infant Formula,” Nevada Law Journal (2009), available at Pace Law Faculty Publications, Paper 566: http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/lawfaculty/566.
mothers of sons produced fatter, more-energy-dense milk: Katherine Hinde, “Richer Milk for Sons but More Milk for Daughters: Sex-Biased Investment during Lactation Varies with Maternal Life History in Rhesus Macaques,” American Journal of Human Biology, vol. 21, no. 4 (2009), pp. 512-519. Also, Katherine Hinde, author interview, December 2010.
Babies have evolved their own tricks: David Haig, “Genetic Conflicts in Human Pregnancy,” Quarterly Review of Biology, vol. 68, no. 4 (December 1993), pp. 495-532; Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, Mother Nature: Maternal Instincts and How They Shape the Human Species (New York: Ballantine Books, 1999), pp. 430-441.
When the baby is older than one year: Dror Mandel et al., “Fat and Energy Contents of Expressed Human Breast Milk in Prolo
nged Lactation,” Pediatrics, vol. 116, no. 3 (2005), pp. e432-e435.
After the terrorist attacks of 9/11: Sandra Steingraber, Raising Elijah (Philadelphia: Da Capo Press, 2011), p. 19.
A mother loses up to 6 percent of her calcium: J. M. Lopez, “Bone Turnover and Density in Healthy Women during Breastfeeding and after Weaning,” Osteoporosis International, vol. 6, no. 2 (1996), pp. 153-159.
“I was storing some of my milk”: Eleanor “Bimla” Schwarz, assistant professor of medicine, epidemiology, obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences, University of Pittsburgh, author interview, October 2010.
humans are the only primates: Daniel W. Sellen, “Evolution of Infant and Young Child Feeding: Implications for Contemporary Public Health,” Annual Review of Nutrition, vol. 27 (2007), pp. 123-148.
“a pattern known to be optimal”: Daniel W. Sellen, Canada Research Chair in Human Ecology and Public Health Nutrition, University of Toronto, author interview, October 2010.
a recent paper of his: Sellen, “Evolution and Infant Young Child Feeding.”
the very stuff itself is oddly compromised: For an interesting discussion of how the profile of milk fats has changed due to the omega-6-dominant Western diet, see Erin E. Mosley, Anne L. Wright, Michelle K. McGuire, and Mark A. McGuire, “Trans Fatty Acids in Milk Produced by Women in the United States,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, vol. 82, no. 6 (2005), pp. 1292-1297.
CHAPTER 10 • SOUR MILK
“To recognize milk which is bad”: Ebers Papyrus, quoted in Valerie Fildes, Breasts, Bottles and Babies: A History of Infant Feeding (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1986), p. 5.
“Today, polyurethanes can be found in virtually everything”: “History,” Centers for the Polyurethanes Industry, Polyeurethane. org, available at http://www.polyurethane.org/s_api/sec.asp?cid=853&did=3487 (accessed October 2011).
A typical home filled with polyurethane products”: Bob Luedeka, executive director, Polyurethane Foam Association, author interview, August 2011.
It’s questionable whether or not these substances: Y. Babrauskas et al., “Flame Retardants in Furniture Foam: Benefits and Risks,” Fire Safety Science Proceedings, 10th International Symposium, International Association for Fire Safety Science (2011, pending publication).
Most deaths in fires are caused: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Fire Deaths and Injuries: Fact Sheet,” October 1, 2010, available at www.cdc.gov/HomeandRecreationalSafety/Fire-Prevention/fires-factsheet.html.
They accumulate more toxins than other organs: France P. Labreche, “Exposure to Organic Solvents and Breast Cancer in Women: A Hypothesis,” American Journal of Industrial Medicine, vol. 32 (1997), pp. 1-14.
Morton Biskind examined a pregnant woman: Morton Biskind et al., “DDT Poisoning: A New Syndrome with Neuropsychiatric Manifestations,” American Journal of Psychotherapy, vol. 3, no. 2 (1949), pp. 261-270; Morton S. Biskind, “Statement on Clinical Intoxication from DDT and Other New Insecticides,” presented before the Select Committee to Investigate the Use of Chemicals in Food Products, United States House of Representatives, December 12, 1950, Westport, Conn., published in the Journal of Insurance Medicine, vol. 6, no. 2 (March-May 1951), pp. 5-12.
finding DDT in the milk: For a great overview of the problem, see Steingraber, Having Faith, p. 252. The 1951 study by E. P. Laug is recounted in “DDT and Its Derivatives,” published by the United Nations Environmental Programme and the World Health Organization in 1979, available at http://www.inchem.org/documents/ehc/ehc/ehc009.htm.
Researchers in the Great Lakes region: one of the most famous studies is Joseph L. Jacobson and Sandra W. Jacobson, “Intellectual Impairment in Children Exposed to Polychlorinated Biphenyls in Utero,” New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 335 (1996), pp. 783-789.
animal poisoning in Michigan in 1974:Åke Bergman, “The Abysmal Failure of Preventing Human and Environmental Exposure to Persistent Brominated Flame Retardants: A Brief Historical Review of BRFs,” in Mehran Alaee et al. (eds.), Commemorating 25 Years of Dioxin Symposia (Toronto: Twenty-fifth Dioxin Committee, 2005), pp. 32-40. Also see Joyce Egginton, The Poisoning of Michigan (East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1980).
In the years that followed: For the long-term effects in the people exposed in the Michigan case, see Heidi Michels Blanck et al., “Age at Menarche and Tanner Stage in Girls Exposed in Utero and Postnatally to Polybrominated Biphenyl,” Epidemiology, vol. 11, no. 6 (2000), pp. 641-671. Also, Michele Marcus, Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, author interview, November 2010.
at 36 parts per billion: Arnold Schecter, professor of environmental and occupational health sciences, University of Texas School of Public Health, author interview, September 2004.
In humans as well as rodents: For example, see Ami R. Zota, “Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDEs), Hydroxylated PBDEs (OH-PBDEs), and Measures of Thyroid Function in Second Trimester Pregnant Women in California,” Environmental Science and Technology, published online, August 10, 2011.
In 2010, researchers in New York found: Julie Herbstman, “Prenatal Exposure to PBDEs and Neurodevelopment,” Environmental Health Perspectives, vol. 118, no. 5 (May 2010), pp. 712-719.
A recent study found that California women: Kim G. Harley et al., “PBDE Concentrations in Women’s Serum and Fecundability,” Environmental Health Perspectives, vol. 118, no. 5 (May 2010), pp. 699-704.
A Danish study showed an association: Katharina Maria Main et al., “Flame Retardants in Placenta and Breast Milk and Cryptorchidism in Newborn Boys,” Environmental Health Perspectives, vol. 115, no. 10 (October 2007), pp. 1519-1526.
breast-fed infants and toddlers have considerably higher levels: Daniel Carrizo et al., “Influence of Breastfeeding in the Accumulation of Polybromodiphenyl Ethers during the First Years of Child Growth,” Environmental Science and Technology, vol. 41, no. 14 (2007), pp. 4907-4912.
Some studies have found that breast-fed babies: For example, see Jacobson and Jacobson, “Intellectual Impairment in Children Exposed to Polychlorinated Biphenyls in Utero,” pp. 783-789.
Recent studies show that lactating mothers off-load: Kim Hooper et al., “Depuration of Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDEs) and Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) in Breast Milk from California First-Time Mothers (Primiparae),” Environmental Health Perspectives, vol. 115, no. 9 (September 2007), pp. 1271-1275.
For other chemicals, the dump rate is even higher: As cited in Hooper et al., “Depuration of Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers.”
Mothers who breast-feed for a year: Cathrine Thomsen et al., “Changes in Concentrations of Perfluorinated Compounds, Poly brominated Diphenyl Ethers, and Polychlorinated Biphenyls in Norwegian Breast-Milk during Twelve Months of Lactation,” Environmental Science and Technology, vol. 44, no. 24 (2010), pp. 9550-9556.
“likely to be carcinogenic in humans”: Kyle Steenland et al., “Epidemiologic Evidence on the Health Effects of Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA),” Environmental Health Perspectives, vol. 118, no. 8 (August 2010), pp. 1100-1108.
Adult female striped and bottlenose dolphins are actually the “purest”: Jennifer E. Yordy et al., “Life History as a Source of Variation for Persistent Organic Pollutant (POP) Patterns in a Community of Common Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) Resident to Sarasota Bay, FL,” Science of the Total Environment, vol. 408, no. 9 (2010), pp. 2163-2172.
I decided to start with my house dust: Chemical analysis of my house dust was done by Heather Stapleton, assistant professor of environmental chemistry, Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, Duke University; author interview, December 2010.
seventy-six new and suspect flame-retardants: Jacob de Boer, “Editorial: Special Issue: Contaminants in Food—Brominated Flame Retardants,” Molecular Nutrition and Food Research, vol. 52, no. 2 (2008), pp. 185-186.
CHAPTER 11 • AN UNFAMILIAR WILDERNESS
“Brave new world”: American He
ritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed., available at http://www.wordnik.com/words/brave%20new%20world (accessed October 2011).
“Walking today in an unfamiliar biochemical wilderness”: James S. Olson, Bathsheba’s Breast: Women, Cancer, and History (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002), p. 240.
Globally, breast cancer is the leading cause: F. Kamangar et al., “Patterns of Cancer Incidence, Mortality, and Prevalence across Five Continents: Defining Priorities to Reduce Cancer Disparities in Different Geographic Regions of the World,” Journal of Clinical Oncology, vol. 24 (2006), pp. 2137-2150.
“omnis cellula e cellula”: Rudolf Ludwig Karl Virchow, Die Cellularpathologie in ihrer Begründung auf physiologische und pathologische Gewebelehre (Berlin: A. Hirschwald, 1858).
Humans are just about the only free-ranging animal: Susan Love, clinical professor of surgery, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, and president, Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation, author interview, March 2009.
Breasts Page 29