Organochlorine Pesticide Residue Levels in Mothers and their Children

Organochlorine pesticide residue levels in breast Milk, baby food preparation, blood of nursing mothers and their babies as well as cord blood, collected from University College Hospital, Ibadan were analysed by Gas liquid chromatographic method using electron capture detector.Considerable amount of organochlorine pesticide residues were found to be in breast milk, babies’ food and in blood of mothers and their children which is indicative of contamination of our environment by Organochlorine pesticides.The pesticide residues in the breast milk were found to be higher than what was obtained in the blood samples. The reason for this is the higher fat content of breast milk. The pesticide burden in the breast milk was also found to be higher than what was obtained in the blood samples. The reason for this is the higher fat content of breast milk.The presence of levels of these harmful chemicals in the breast milk raises some fundamental questions on the safety of breast feeding when one considers the relatively low resistance of the babies that feed on this milk to these chemicals.