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Koopman-Esseboom,
C, N Weisglas-Kuperus, MAJ de Ridder, CG Van der Paauw, LGM Th Tuinstra,
and PJJ Sauer. 1996. Effects of Polychlorinated Biphenyl/Dioxin
Exposure and Feeding Type on Infants' Mental and Psychomotor Development.
Pediatrics 97(5): 700-706.
Koopman-Esseboom
et al. studied 207 mother-infant pairs, of which 105 were breastfed
and 102 were bottle fed. They estimated prenatal PCB exposure by measuring
maternal plasma during the last month of pregnancy; they measured
postnatal PCB and dioxin exposure from levels in human milk samples
and from the duration of breast feeding. They then examined mental
and psychomotor development by examining infants at 3, 7 and 18 months
of age using the Bayley Scales of Infant Development.
Lower
psychomotor scores were associated with higher PCB in utero
exposure at 3 months of age. Breast-fed infants scored higher on
psychomotor scores but their performance was negatively influenced
by post-natal exposure to PCBs and dioxin.
At
18 months, the development was affected by neither PCB and dioxin
exposure nor by feeding type.
"In
conclusion, prenatal as well as post-natal exposure to Dutch levels
of PCBs and dioxins has a small adverse effect on early psychomotor
development. Breast-feeding per se has an important positive influence
on mental and psychomotor development at 7 months of age. Although
the postnatal dioxin and dioxin like PCB exposure through breastfeeding
had a negative effect on the PDI outcome at 7 months of age, breastfed
infants never scored significantly lower compared with formula-fed
infants. Therefore, mothers can be supported, also in the western
industrialized part of the world, to breastfeed their infants. However,
it is not clear if the small adverse effects we found on early development,
which are caused in a critical period of organ growth and differentiation,
might represent differences in neurobehaviour that become apparent
later in life. Therefore, it remains necessary for governments worldwide
to reduce the expulsion and dumping of these toxins as much as possible."
A
limitation of this study is that all study subjects contained at
least some level of contamination. Therefore, a true control population
was not available. This is likely to bias the results against finding
an effect.
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Huisman,
M, C Koopman-Esseboom, CI Lanting, C G van der Paauw, L GM Th. Tuinstra,
V Fidler, N Weisglas Kuperus, PJJSauer, ER Boersma and BCL Towen.
1996. Neurological condition in 18-month-old children perinatally
exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls and dioxins. Early Human
Development 43:165-176.
Huisman
et al. studied the neurological condition of Dutch children at age
of 18 months, asking whether this was related to prenatal and breast-milk
exposure to PCBs and dioxins. They found that the higher the transplancental
PCB exposure, the lower the measurement of neurological condition.
They could not detect an impact of exposure via breast-milk, and indeed
found a beneficial impact of breast feeding on fluency of movements.
In
the study they controlled for education of the father, birth order,
smoking by the father during pregnancy, and other variables. They
did find an interaction between smoking and contamination: the least-exposed
children of non-smoking fathers had the highest scores.
A
limitation of this study is that all study subjects contained at
least some level of contamination. Therefore, a true control population
was not available. This is likely to bias the results against finding
an effect.
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Huisman,
M, C Koopman-Esseboom, V Fidler, M Hadders-Algra, C G van der Paauw,
L GM Th. Tuinstra. 1995. Perinatal exposure to polychlorinated
biphenyls and dioxins and its effect on neonatal neurological development.
Early Human Development 41:111-127. |
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