Lead in Breast Milk
1 Division of Emergency Medicine, Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115
Continued efforts are needed to identify all environmental sources of lead, a potent neurotoxin. In recent decades, lead has been removed from gasoline and from food containers, resulting in dramatic falls in the blood lead of American children. Although this has left paint and lead dust as primary sources of lead, it also elevates the importance of identifying other potential sources (eg, soil, water).1,2
Questions have arisen in the past regarding the excretion of maternal lead into breast milk.




