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“But read down the label, and the fine print, at least for some women, sounds considerably less appetizing: DDT (the banned but stubbornly persistent pesticide famous for nearly wiping out the bald eagle), PCB’s, dioxin, trichloroethylene, perchlorate, mercury, lead, benzene, arsenic. When we nurse our babies, we feed them not only the fats, sugars and proteins that fire their immune systems, metabolisms and cerebral synapses. We also feed them, albeit in minuscule amounts, paint thinners, dry-cleaning fluids, wood preservatives, toilet deodorizers, cosmetic additives, gasoline byproducts, rocket fuel, termite poisons, fungicides and flame retardants.” [via NY Times]
Where did all these poisons come from? Our ever-evolving modern and civilized life is primarily to blame. All the contact with polymers and plastic that make up most of the things that we use in our daily life acts as a infinitesimally increasing poison that has permeated our existence. Of course, societies that we mock for being backward have so far escaped being afflicted with this slow poison. But they willingly thrust themselves into this abyss. Man is a hardy animal and we will definitely make our bodies immune but we do have a choice still. The world of materialism has a definite lure to it that the most ascetic amongst us cannot resist. However, as WorldChanging reassures us that all is not lost and there is hope to reverse the damage using social, biological, and political mechanisms. Sustainable design and conscious effort at bettering our industrial process can at least begin the revival process. Read up the rest at WorldChanging for a detailed analysis.
I just was surprised at the frailty of man and his vulnerability of his own actions that almost threaten accelerating evolution in the wrong direction. I hope that macho Bollywood heroes can still melodramatically scream “Maa ka doodh piya hai toh bahar nikal” in the future; it has an old-worldly charm to it.
by Patrix | on Sunday, January 16th, 2005 at 11:05 pm | 
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January 17th, 2005 at 4:11 am reply
Yikess! This is giving me the goosebumps *shudder*
January 17th, 2005 at 4:19 am reply
yikes! not just breast milk.. the quality of human life is definitely changing due to advancement.. and so are the health hazards increasing..
I have often thought that our generation would definitely have something going wrong in our system somewhere because we are so hi-tech (using cellphones n the like), are exposed to all kind of radiations… compared to lets say some generation 50 yrs back…
January 17th, 2005 at 4:20 am reply
the change in font is quite welcome.. ah.. easier readability :)
January 17th, 2005 at 7:04 am reply
Pretty interesting. But then why am I not surprised? When pollutants can make their way into the egg shells of the american national bird, why are our children an exception?
Still I would think that despite all the pollutants, breat milk would still remain pretty essential for the child. However, with the new study it is likely that the makers of Farex and Cerelac would try subtle campaigns to push for alternatives for breast milk, well into the first four months (for when advertizing is banned in India).
January 17th, 2005 at 10:34 am reply
Crab - Never expected it, eh?
Twilight - There are bound to be costs with human advancement. We really can’t avoid them. But we can try to minimize them by being as organic as possible.
Kiran - This is certainly going to open the market for Farex and Cerelac. But I doubt if that is the case in India, we haven’t yet made the crossover to totally genetically-engineered food. We still buy farm produce sold on our streets, fresh from the fields.
January 17th, 2005 at 11:09 am reply
Yes, I did notimagine this!
January 17th, 2005 at 2:30 pm reply
Question is - is it present more in breast milk, than other supplements etc?
Maybe we women should start eating only organic foods now.
January 17th, 2005 at 3:24 pm reply
Well..what did people expect? Our lives as we live it today, is the consequence of our own action. As you pointed out Man is a hardy animal, and over the course, the miniscule amount of poison, is not going to matter and the truth is, he will adapt.As always, there will be this other small group of people, who will be willing to change their ways for a better world, while a majority instead of solving the root of the problem, will be counteracting it with the introduction of new chemicals.
Still, there is always hope for revival…but the question is how many of us are truly willing to give it a shot and bring about the change?
Lets c, how many of us can really stay without the microwave …it is not the leakage of radiation that I am talking about, but its effect on the food that is re-heated or cooked?
It is easy to go organic and not consume the GE food, but is it cost effective?
This stain of chemicals in our lives is a cumulative effect of biological, economical and of course, political reasons.
January 17th, 2005 at 6:56 pm reply
Medium Latte - Although it may be a bit late, but maybe pregnant women should have only organic food to reduce the impact.
Queer - It may be difficult but certainly not impossible. Change in little increments can help us be there. It may not be cost effective in the short term but can result in significant long term benefits.