High DDT Levels Found in Breastmilk of Hong Kong Mothers

[Guest guest]

High DDT Levels Found in Breastmilk of Hong Kong

Mothers

 

 

HONG KONG: July 25, 2005

 

HONG KONG - High levels of DDT were found in the

breastmilk of new

mothers in Hong Kong even though the pesticide has

long been banned in many

places, including Hong Kong and China, a scientist

said on Friday.

 

The findings by researchers from Hong Kong's Baptist

University suggest

that DDT is still being illegally used in mainland

China, on which Hong

Kong depends for most of its food supplies, he said.

The study of a group of 37 Hong Kong mothers was

carried out between

1999 and 2000, but the researchers who published the

study this month

said the results still held good.

 

" When you compare it with similar studies in other

countries, Hong

Kong's DDT problem is serious, " Chris Wong Kong-chu, a

biology associate

professor at the Baptist University told Reuters in an

interview.

 

If found in human breastmilk, persistent organic

pollutants such as DDT

can be fully absorbed by infants.

 

DDT was banned in 1972 in the United States after it

caused

reproductive damage to birds such as the brown pelican

and bald eagle, but it can

remain in the environment for a long time. It also has

been shown to

increase the growth of breast cancer cells.

 

" Even though the samples were taken in 1999 and 2000,

the results

definitely still apply and are representative, " said

Chris Wong.

 

" These pollutant accumulations take place over a very

long period of

time and even if we collect the samples again from the

same subjects,

they will show the same level of DDT concentrations, "

he said.

 

The team led by biology professor Wong Ming Hung

collected breastmilk

and fatty tissue from the abdomens of the new mothers.

 

 

They found an average of 2.79 micrograms of DDT per

gram of fat in Hong

Kong mothers who were tested, far exceeding levels

found in places such

as Japan (0.78), Italy (1.98) and the United States

(2.52). The

situation was only worse in China (7.6) and Mexico

(5.66).

 

The report said the high level of DDT in Mexico was

understandable

because DDT had been widely used for malaria control

before it was banned

recently.

 

But for DDT to turn up in China and Hong Kong was

surprising because

the pesticide has been banned in the region since

1983.

 

" This is possibly due to the fact that there may be

some illegal use of

DDT in China... " the scientists said in the paper,

published this month

in the Archives of Environmental Contamination and

Toxicology.

 

Chris Wong said DDT probably found its way into the

Hong Kong women

through the fish they consumed. Most of the fish sold

in Hong Kong are

caught in Chinese waters.

 

" The sea is a huge dumping site and pollutants get

into the fish. We

asked our subjects how much fish they consume, and we

found a

correlation. The higher the seafood consumption, the

higher the DDT content, " he

said.

 

Scientists say it has not been conclusively

established what damage DDT

does to infants. But a recent US study found that a

group of mothers

with elevated levels of DDT suffered premature

deliveries and had babies

who were underweight.

 

" What we need is closer monitoring of this pollutant

in the

environment, in food and in people in this area and we

have to see if this problem

will get worse, " he said.

 

REUTERS NEWS SERVICE

 

 

 

Caroline Collard

 

World's first fully certified organic skin, body, oral

and health care

products

www.happyandhealthy.org.uk