From the ArcaMax Publishing, Women Newsletter:
http://www.arcamax.com/news/women/s-563631-353529
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (UPI) -- Dioxin exposure during pregnancy can harm
fast-changing breast tissue cells and that may cause some women to
have trouble breast feeding, U.S. researchers said.
Corresponding author B. Paige Lawrence of the University of Rochester
Medical Center said dioxins are generated mostly by the incineration
of municipal and medical waste, especially certain plastics. Most
people are exposed through diet.
Dioxins also get into the food supply when air emissions settle on
farm fields and where livestock graze. Also, fish ingest dioxins and
related pollutants from contaminated waters, Lawrence said.
The study, published in the journal Toxicological Sciences, showed
that dioxin has a profound effect on breast tissue by causing mammary
cells to stop their natural cycle of proliferation as early as six
days into pregnancy and lasting through mid-pregnancy.
In tissue samples from mice, exposure to dioxin caused a 50-percent
decrease in new epithelial cells. This is important, Lawrence said,
because mammary glands have a high rate of cell proliferation,
especially during early to mid-pregnancy when the most rapid
development of the mammary gland occurs.
Researchers also found that dioxin altered the induction of
milk-producing genes, which occurs around the ninth day of pregnancy,
and decreased the number of ductal branches and mature lobules in the
mammary tissue.