Breasts—Natural & Not So Natural.
Fotosearch Stock Photo / Royalty Free
What You Need To Know About What’s Inside ‘Em.
I was innocently listening to Fresh Air on NPR when Terry Gross began talking with Florence Williams about her new book, Breasts: A Natural and Unnatural History. Since I lost my only sister to breast cancer not long ago, I was drawn into my radio just like the NPR promo ads warn you; you’ll be stuck in your car unable to escape.
Florence Williams was nursing her second child when she heard a report about hundreds of poisons found in breast milk. As a science journalist, she immediately decided it was high time to investigate the breast’s vulnerability to toxins in our environment. I speculate her idea of good nutrition for her newborn child didn’t include flame retardants, dioxin, pesticides, BPA and jet fuel ingredients.
We know more about the chemistry of wine than we do about breast milk
I urge men and women alike to listen to this informative NPR conversation here. You’ll soon discover there is a lot more than fat cells and milk to appreciate about breasts.
Those who listen to Terry Gross know that she asks insightful questions. Although, as you listen, you’ll be squirming for her to ask more penetrating and provocative ones. Increasingly, breasts and our bodies in general are subjected to extraordinary concentrations of toxins from our environment and the things we manufacture and use every day.
Disappointingly, Terry fell a bit short of going for the corporate jugular. Don’t dismay, there is plenty of juice in her discussion with Florence.
It’s a super hot button with me that researchers are not focusing on root environmental causes of cancer, attributable to pervasive poisons in our ground, water and air.
When you listen to the interview, you’ll gain some good ideas about how to protect yourself and how important it is to be aware of persistent toxins in nearly everything we’re creating in our modern world.
You might want to think twice about handling those cash register receipts, since your skin absorbs the synthetic estrogen BPA (Bisphenol-A) that coats the receipts. BPA gladly enters your blood stream and finds its way to your breast tissue.
Factoid: 92% of canned goods contain BPA.
This synthetic additive is linked to everything from obesity to diabetes. Cell culture studies in human epidemiological studies indicate adverse impacts on reproductive and sexual development and fertility. Other negative impacts include cognition, neurological systems and immune system function.
A review of 800 scientific studies recently published concludes:
it is “remarkably common” for very small amounts of hormone-disrupting chemicals to have profound, adverse effects on human health.
I was greatly relieved to discover that Alfalfa’s, our local Boulder health food store, pays extra to have BPA free paper in their registers.
flickr commons / National Archives
Men, you’re not off the hook—Marines at Camp Lejeune, N.C. suffer from breast cancer too. In 2011, as part of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, thirteen Marines (all men) published a calendar to raise awareness of their situation.
Here’s my request: as soon as you finish listening (did I mention I’d really encourage you to listen?) to the NPR interview, check out what you can do to help the Natural Resources Defense Council Fix the FDA.
One of my favorite singer song writers, David Wilcox offers his commentary on another toxic problem concerning breasts—the pervasive and invasive “augmentation” issue.
Onward with Courage,
Incorrect source, offensive, or found a typo? Or do you want to write for Elephant?
Bravo Bud Wilson! This is so important. BPA and phytogens estrogens are EVERYWHERE! Cancer usually starts with the endocrine disrupters and the govt looks past this as it would eliminate most of the products we use. Thank you for helping to get this message out.
You're welcome Alan – you can help by sharing the article with as many friends as you can – colleagues, family etc. I did my best to include some in depth links for people to do a bit of deeper inquiry. Our Stolen Future is an excellent book that has been out for some time now addressing the haunting endocrine disrupter issue.
Fascinating topic, although that NPR interview struck me as a little sensationalistic – I wish they had talked more about the concentrations that were found, and what the average levels of these chemicals in breastmilk are (an n of 1 can be misleading)! I'm nursing my almost 2 year old daughter, and we try to eat organic/limit plastics use as much as possible, but it's so hard to avoid.
Yes, Jackie, the report that I linked to which reviewed 800 scientific studies was significant because it turned the previous assumption that the "dose" or "concentration" of a toxin was the primary concern in the domain of toxicology – they showed that even tiny traces of these toxic substances like BPA were just as damaging and harmful to human health as higher concentrations. I actually thought that Florence was fairly balanced and not too hysterical or "sensational" – In my opinion, we need to be extremely vigilant regarding the pervasive chemicals that are so prevalent in our world today. My understanding is that Dioxin (another toxic chemical) is present in every woman's breast milk through out the entire world. That's a very serious indictment of the chemical industry and represent a failure of our systems and our citizens to insist that we stop polluting our planet.
Excellent Bud, thanks for covering this.
You can help spread the word by sharing and sending the link via email to your network. The more voices that are raised, the more likely we can change policy and hold the regulatory agencies accountable as well as pressure companies to be responsible "citizen"—after all the Supreme Court tells us they are people. Onward!
Alan, from my view who cares what's in them, natural or not there's not much more too look at. Now that I said all that, great article…..thanks, Michail
Michail – Not sure who Alan is, nonetheless – the title was more about attracting attention than worrying about breasts being natural or not… the "not so natural" reference of course was alluding to the toxic chemicals that are increasingly stored in the fatty tissues – These toxins also get stored in Brain and Liver tissue. Not a good scenario for our health. Glad you appreciated the article.
[...] Relephant bonus. [...]
Just had a short video link from the Environmental Working Group passed along to me: Toxins in the umbilical chord blood of newborns. Doctors used to think the placenta was a barrier that protected the fetus from toxicity. Not So! Over 300 chemicals are present in new borns:
Here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVzTLWLq7Jk
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