More pollutants in the breast milk of women exposed to emissions from waste incinerators

“Although food is generally recognized as the primary source of chemicals in the human body, we have recently raised the possibility that emissions from waste incinerators contribute slightly to pollutants in breast milk,” said Mireille Toledano, director of the Mohn Center at the School of Public Health at Imperial College London (UK). To reach this conclusion, the researcher and her team carried out a study, the results of which were published in the journal Environmental Research.

Breast milk samples from women living within 20 km of an incinerator were examined

As part of the work, they recruited women who became mothers for the first time from across England between 2016 and 2023. The latter lived within a 20 km radius of a waste incinerator. Participants provided breast milk samples. In total, samples from 194 women were analyzed for dioxins and samples from 150 for polychlorinated biphenyls to determine their concentrations of several compounds. Data suggests that infants may be vulnerable to these compounds, which may affect their growth and neurodevelopment.

As a reminder, polychlorinated biphenyls and dioxins are common chemical pollutants that persist in the environment and human tissues and can be potentially toxic. While more than 90% of this concentration comes from the consumption of meat, dairy, fish and shellfish, waste combustion is also known to be a potential source of these compounds, even though modern incinerators have implemented procedures to minimize risk.

Breast milk: a slight increase in pollutant levels in mothers exposed to emissions

The results showed an association between exposure to incinerator emissions and small increases in levels of dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls in breast milk. After modeling the concentration of small particles (PM10) at ground level closer to the incinerators (within 10 km), the authors found that a doubling of the amount of PM10 was significantly linked to an increase of 9. 1% of the concentration of dioxins alone in breast milk, as well as the concentration of dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls (9.7%).

However, “research could not demonstrate whether emissions were the direct source of the increased level of polychlorinated biphenyls and dioxins in breast milk, due to the persistent nature of the compounds in the environment and human tissues and the number of potential sources, including food. Faced with these data, scientists recommend further environmental monitoring of compounds in the environment near incinerators, which is still “very limited”.