Rubbish dump mums poisoning their kids

Breast milk of women living in Quezon City's dump contains levels of cancer-causing substances exceeding tolerable limits

MANILA - Thousands of Filipino mothers living in Quezon City's garbage dump may be poisoning their children unwittingly through their breast milk, a study has found.

Researchers found high levels of cancer-causing substances in the breast milk of women living in the Payatas dump.

More than 24,000 mothers live there, though it is unclear exactly how many are affected.

The findings have prompted environmental and women's health advocates to urge the government to ban the incineration or open burning of waste.

Open burning was among the processes producing cancer-causing dioxins, said representatives of Greenpeace International and Woman Health Philippines.

The two groups on Thursday presented the results of a study conducted in 2000 by a team of international scientists showing that dioxins in breast milk samples collected at the Payatas dump were beyond the tolerable limit set by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

'The levels found were such that if this mother's milk were cow's milk, its sale would not be allowed in the Netherlands,' said Mr Von Hernandez of Greenpeace International.

He said the study indicated that infants ingested about 20 picograms of dioxins daily, compared to WHO's tolerable daily intake of 1 to 4 picograms.

He said the presence of dioxins in their mothers' milk also indicated that the infants had been exposed to dangerous substances starting from their conception.

'This pre-birth exposure can result in irreversible changes in foetal development.'

He said the study team had also collected breast milk samples from three women living in Leveriza, Pasay City - another impoverished area. The same dioxin rates were found, suggesting the problem 'could be widespread'. -- Philippine Daily Inquirer/Asia News Network

DIOXINS: A common carcinogen

DIOXINS are unwanted by-products of industrial processes such as the incineration of municipal, medical and hazardous wastes; coal-firing in power plants; smelting of metals; bleaching of paper; and production of certain pesticides, toxic chemicals and plastics.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer concluded in 1997 that dioxins caused cancer in humans.