Toxicity found in breast milk of mothers in dioxin-affected areas

http://vietnamnews.vn/society/239127/toxicity-found-in-breast-milk-of-mothers-in-dioxin-affected-areas.html
DONG NAI (VNS)– During the war in Viet Nam, US troops stored more than 98,000 buckets of Agent Orange at Bien Hoa airbase in the southern province of Dong Nai. After they overflowed several times, the contamination level far exceeded what regulations permitted.
Today, the breast milk of women in Bien Hoa City still contains more toxic dioxin than that of women in other areas.
In so-called dioxin "hot spots" – Da Nang, Phu Cat District in the central province of Binh Dinh –toxicity levels are even higher.
These troubling findings emerged as part of a study on dioxin's effect on newborns conducted by Kanazawa Medical University and the Dong Nai Department of Health. During the study, doctors took more than 200 blood and umbilical cord samples from babies born near the Bien Hoa airbase. They also drew breast milk samples and checked the development of the infants' nervous systems.
According to the researchers, newborns' heads in Bien Hoa City were bigger than in Da Nang; the babies who were born prematurely gained weight slowly.
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