PEDIATRICS Vol. 66 No. 3 September 1980, pp. 470-472
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Testing for Environmental Contaminants in Human Milk

Edward Kendrick MD, PhD1

1 Departments of Preventive Medicine and Pediatrics, University of Wisconsin, Madison

The Wisconsin State Department of Health has recently recommended in a letter to all state physicians that certain subsets of lactating women have their milk analyzed for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and insecticides.1 The Department of Health further states that they "cannot justify recommending that breast milk be used if laboratory tests indicate that it is above the Federal Drug Administration tolerance limit" for these contaminants in commercial milk. A 1975-1976 Environmental Protection Agency survey of mothers' milk revealed that most mothers' milk exceeds one or more of the FDA tolerance limits for these contaminants in commercial milk.2 It would appear then that the Wisconsin State Department of Health is suggesting that most mothers not breast-feed.