Is your milk safe?

A friend from of mine from both college and AvantGo has co-founded a new group: MOMS (Making Our Milk Safe). MOMS is having a benefit in San Francisco on August 3, 2005. All are welcome and there will be childcare (plus organic yummy treats, wine, cookies, and milkshakes!) If you want to attend, please send me an email (mary dot tsao at gmail dot com).

Here's what MOMS has to say for itself:

As new mothers, we were alarmed to learn that mother’s milk––nature’s perfect food––is under increasing threat from environmental contaminants. Toxic chemicals in our environment make their way into our bodies and are passed on to our babies through our breast milk. Many of these chemicals are found in cosmetics, personal care products, cleaning agents, and plastics–products most of us use every day.

This can and must be stopped, and mobilizing moms is the way to do it! We are founding MOMS to fight for the most basic of human rights: a baby’s right to pure and healthy nourishment.

We invite YOU to be part of this action!

Did you know...
* More than 85,000 synthetic chemicals are used today in the United States, with an additional 1,000 new chemicals added each year.
* Less than 10 percent of these chemicals have been tested for their effects on human health, much less babies.
* Recent studies show that breast milk contains dozens of chemicals including compounds from rocket fuel, flame retardants, pesticides and everyday consumer products. Many of these chemicals are known carcinogens and are linked to developmental problems in children.
* Levels of flame retardants in the breast milk of first-time mothers in the U.S. were 75 times higher than their counterparts in Europe.
* In Sweden, government regulations of flame retardants resulted in a dramatic drop in their level in breast milk over a short period––we can do this too!

"May the world's feast be made safe for women and children. May mothers' milk run clean again. May denial give way to courageous action." --Sandra Steingraber, author of Having Faith