in april this year, California became the first us state to introduce a bill to biomonitor breast milk. Activists and researchers hope that once this legislation is passed, it will help people realise that mothers pass on toxic material to their offspring. Breast milk monitoring would also help create awareness about the harmful effect of pesticides.

So far only blood and urine are routinely checked for toxins in the us. Testing breast milk will provide information on fat-soluble chemicals, which might not be evident from either urine or blood tests.

Breast milk monitoring studies in Europe have found that it contains more than 200 toxic substances, including dioxins, ddt and polychlorinated biophenyl. In the us, small-scale studies carried out by the Environmental Working Group