BREASTFED PFAS FEARS
Mother concerned about toxic effects on newborn
A YOUNG Katherine mum fears she may have done “irreversible damage” to the health of her young children by breastfeeding while drinking PFAS-ridden water.
Merlyn Smith has lived in Katherine for 30 years and breastfed sons Joshua, 10, and Alkhem, 21 months.
“There was no warning for me in my pregnancies.
“It angers me — I cry for days over it, thinking I’ve kept them on contaminated land, drinking the water,” she said.
At present, Defence provides bottled water and tanks to eligible properties around RAAF Base Tindal.
Ms Smith is petitioning Defence to provide bottled drinking water for everyone in Katherine while environmental tests and the human health study continue.
She said, as a priority, pregnant and breastfeeding mums in Katherine should have access to free bottled water — no matter how close they lived to RAAF Tindal.
Ms Smith was concerned about how much PFAS chemicals she ingested while pregnant and passed on to her boys.
The NT Environment Protection Authority said it was not recommending mothers living in or around sites contaminated with PFOS or PFOA cease breastfeeding
“There are significant health benefits from breastfeeding and these benefits far outweigh any potential health risks to an infant from any PFOS or PFOA transferred through breast milk,” NT EPA says in a statement posted on its website.
“There is currently no consistent evidence that exposure to PFOS or PFOA causes adverse human health outcomes in pregnant women or their babies. Nonetheless, pregnant women should be considered a potentially sensitive population when investigating PFOS and PFOA contaminated sites, with a view to minimising their exposure to PFOS and PFOA.”
However, a 2015 study by the Harvard T H Chan School of Public Health found PFAS chemicals were transferred to babies through breastmilk.
PFAS levels appeared to build up in infants by as much as 20-30 per cent for each month they’re breastfed.
Blood samples tested showed higher PFAS levels in the babies who were breastfed longer. When weaned off the breast, levels dropped.
After publishing the study, Harvard environmental professor Philippe Grandjean said researchers followed 81 children born in the Faroe Islands.
Results suggested breast milk was a major source of PFAS exposure during infancy. “There is no reason to discourage breastfeeding, but we are concerned that these pollutants are transferred to the next generation at a very vulnerable age,” Prof Grandjean said.