Investigating the levels of organochlorine pesticides in human milk at three lactational stages: an intensive Ghanaian study

During breastfeeding, the human breasts secrete three different kinds of milk. Research indicates that newborns exposed to organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) during developmental stages, even at low concentrations, may suffer irreparable harm. The study aimed to ascertain whether OCPs levels in human milk vary across lactational stages. University of Health and Allied Sciences Research Ethics Committee (UHAS- REC) examined and approved the study protocol. 47 volunteers were chosen using purposive sampling. Each participant donated 15 ml of each type of breast milk. Colostrum was taken shortly after delivery up to day 4, transitional milk between day 5 and two weeks postpartum, while mature milk was taken two weeks afterwards. A modified version of QuEChERS was used to process 10.0 g aliquot of each breast milk sample, and the resulting extracts analysed for OCPs employing a Gas Chromatograph, Varian CP 3800, fitted with electron capture detector (ECD). The detection threshold was not reached for any of the six OCPs tested. This implied that none of the breast milk components analysed in this study contained any detectable levels of OCPs that might have posed any serious health risks to the infants through breastfeeding. Aldrin, chlordane, DDT, dieldrin, endrin, and heptachlor were not found in detectable quantities in mothers’ milk during the three stages of lactation. Our findings are encouraging. The study’s findings likely show that the Stockholm Convention’s campaign to remove POPs from the environment seems to be yielding positive impact.