Home‎ > ‎Environmental Chemicals‎ > ‎  Persistent Organic
Pollutants  New Articles on Diabetes and Chemicals  From mother
to child, with love   A recent study measured levels of various
contaminants in the placentas and breastmilk of Danish and
Finnish women. The major chemicals found included p,p’-DDE,
beta-HCH, hexachlorobenzene (HCB), endosulfan-I, dieldrin,
oxychlordane, cis-heptachlor epoxide and p,p’-DDT. What the heck
are these things? Most are pesticides or industrial chemicals,
and they can pass through the placenta to the fetus, or enter
babies through breastmilk. Due to the higher fat content of
milk, contaminant levels are higher in milk than the placenta,
but, exposure to the developing fetus is likely to be more
critical to physical development. Although the levels of many of
these contaminants have declined since most developed countries
restricted their use decades ago, they are persistent and remain
in the environment, and our bodies, for long periods of time
(Shen et al. 2007).  These persis