Sandra Steingraber and her daughter, Faith

Common Ground Having Faith talks about the chemical contamination of breast milk all around the world, so why did you choose to breastfeed your daughter, Faith.

Sandra Steinbrager Speaking as a mother, I can say that breastfeeding has been a joyful, liberating experience. It extends the symbiotic relationship between me and my child, which I felt so keenly while I was pregnant, and it has freed me from the drudgery of buying, preparing, and cleaning bottles.

Speaking as a biologist, I can say that breast milk is a far better food for babies than its inferior pretender, infant formula. Breast milk is literally alive: it swims with white blood cells that confer protection against disease. It contains special sugars and fats that help knit together neurons in the brain. It protects against diabetes, obesity, juvenile arthritis, and certain cancers. Human milk is unsubstitutable. And yet, it has also become the most chemically contaminated human food on the planet. It is time we had a public conversation about this problem.

C.G. A problem that you’ve called an abuse of human rights. Can you explain?

S.S. Even if the benefits of breastfeeding still outweigh the risks of not breastfeeding-which they do-the contamination of breast milk infringes on a child’s right to safe food and security of person. It violates a sacred communion. The breastfeeding relationship is said to be the strongest of all human bonds. It shouldn’t also represent a toxic transfer from mother to infant.

C.G. What kind of contaminants are you talking about?

S.S. Pesticides, flame retardants, toilet deodorizers, termite poisons, dry-cleaning fluids, PCBs, dioxins. These are all common contaminants of mother’s milk in the United States and other industrialized countries. We scientists don’t yet understand the long-term health effects of such chemicals exposures on breastfed children. We do know that the goodness of breast milk has been compromised by their presence. The very substance that is supposed to boost immunity now contains immunosuppressive chemicals. The very substance that is designed to protect a child against cancer now contains carcinogens. Some chemicals even appear capable of interfering with a mother’s ability to make milk in the first place.

C.G. You say protecting the ecosystem inside a mother’s body requires protecting the one outside it. How can this be done?

S.S. A lot. For example, the National Research Council recently estimated that 60,000 babies are born each year at risk for neurological problems and learning disabilities due to mercury exposure before birth. By far, our main source of mercury is dietary-especially from fish and seafood. And the single largest source of mercury contamination in fish is coal-burning power plants, which are currently permitted to release as much mercury into the atmosphere as they please. Solving the problem of mercury-damaged children requires us to rethink our energy policies. Similarly, we need to liberate agriculture from its current dependency on neurotoxic pesticides. Renewable energy sources and organic agriculture are part of good prenatal care.

C.G. What advice would you give to an individual woman during the course of her pregnancy?

S.S. She can avoid using pesticides in her home and garden. She can avoid dry-cleaning. She can limit her consumption of tuna fish sandwiches. But in the long term, meaningful change is not going to happen through the sacrifice of individual mothers. We got drunk drivers off the road when mothers got angry and organized and insisted on new public policies-not by asking mothers themselves to give up wine with dinner. The same will happen when mothers get angry and organized about the environmental toxicants that threaten our children.

C.G. How has being a cancer survivor affected your life as a mother?

S.S. Motherhood is a very long commitment for those of us accustomed to living one day at a time. That’s the part of it that overwhelmed me at first. As I write in the opening passage, one of my first thoughts upon seeing the face of my daughter for the first time was, “Now I cannot die.” Another chapter describes my return to the ultrasound table for my amniocentesis. This was the same table where I had previously been scanned for cancer. Now I had to keep telling myself that, this time, signs of growth were a good not a bad thing. Motherhood does share one characteristic with cancer: one’s body is no longer one’s own. But turning my body over to my babies has proved a far more joyful experience than turning it over to white-coated strangers.

C.G. Talk a bit about the names of your two children.

S.S. Faith’s name represents, I think, my belief in the abiding nature of life, it’s ongoingness. My newborn son is named Elijah after Elijah Lovejoy, a writer and early abolitionist whose words and actions inspired so many in the abolitionist movement of the 19th century. I have long said that if we can get rid of slavery, we can get rid of toxic chemicals. When I say my daughter’s name, I’m reminded of my hope for the future. When I say my son’s name, I’m reminded of the past, of the long history of social reformers who came before us and who had a vision of a better world. And who won.

For more information visit Sandra Steingraber’s website, steingraber.com.