Malaysia Ministry of Health Calls Anti-Mom's Milk Study Reckless
Dr. Safurah Jaafar, Director of the Family Health Division of Malaysia's Ministry of Health, has come down hard on the New Straits Times for a report it carried in early May on the potential for "toxins" in mother's milk.
In response, Dr. Jaafar writes:
The Health Ministry is concerned over the recklessness and insensitivity of the report, especially with regard to certain statements which seem to belittle breast-feeding and favour infant formula.
This clearly goes against the ministry's breast-feeding policy whereby mothers are
encouraged to breast-feed their infants exclusively with breast milk for the first six months of the infant's life and thereafter to continue breast-feeding along with appropriate complementary foods up to the age of two years.
Your report has generalised the findings of a small-scale study on a group of mothers. It is certainly inappropriate to assume that all mothers are exposed to environmental contaminants on a similar scale, when, in fact, studies have shown that factors such as age, diet, cigarette smoking, occupation and geographic location of the mother influence the body burden of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) on varying scales.
Dr. Jaafar said the benefits of mother's milk far outweigh the risks. The doctor then turned to the risks of the alternatives, saying:
As an example, formula-fed infants are at a high risk of exposure to life-threatening bacterial contamination.
Bacterial contamination of powdered infant formula, notably Enterobacter sakazakii, can cause fatal outcomes in newborns.
The doctor's complete article can be found here.
