International study finds breast milk free of significant lead contamination.

The recent article by Gulson et al. (1) should provide reassurance to most women that their breast milk is free of significant lead contamination. Their data found that breast milk contained lower levels of lead than infant formula or infant food. Although small amounts of lead may be found in all human tissues, the milk of the vast majority of women does not present a lead hazard to their babies. Unfortunately, the authors formed unwarranted conclusions from their data, and the title of the press release, "International Study Finds Mothers' Lifetime Lead Exposures May Put Breast-fed Newborns at Risk," (2) was misleading. As a result, women reading this press release may decide not to breast-feed, thus depriving their babies of the most healthful food available to them and placing their infants at increased risk for a variety of infectious diseases. This press release is in conflict with the decade-old public health goals to increase both the percentage of mothers who breast-feed and duration of breast-feeding in the United States (3). Why did this happen? What lessons can we learn from the chain of events that led to the release of such misinformation? How can we avoid exposing the public to misinformation that can have dangerous public health consequences? Gulson et al. (1) examined a small, non-representative sample of 15 eastern European women emigrants and their Australian-born babies (n = 16) and compared them with 6 second-generation Australian women and their 8 babies. None of the women were exposed to lead except through background levels in the diet. The study reported no difference in either blood lead or breast milk lead concentrations of European emigrants versus Australian mothers. All had low blood lead values [geometric mean (GM) = 2.02