Tainted Milk

Maia Boswell-Penc

Description

Tainted Milk provides an in-depth analysis of the debate about infant nourishment issues, with a particular focus on environmentally contaminated breastmilk. Maia Boswell-Penc asks why feminists and environmentalists have, for the most part, remained relatively quiet about the fact that environmental toxins have been appearing in breastmilk. She argues that feminists avoid the topic because of their fear of focusing on biological mothering and essentialist thinking, while environmentalists are reluctant to be perceived as fearmongers advocating formula use and contributing to public hysteria. Boswell-Penc also points to the continuing racism, classism, ageism, and corporatization that leaves the less privileged among us more vulnerable.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INTRODUCTION

Advocating for Breastfeeding: An Uphill Battle

A New Chapter with Familiar Patterns: Biomonitoring

Infant Feeding under Wraps Breastmilk’s Significance Environmental Toxicity Laying Out the Players

CHAPTER 1. THE EVOLVING NARRATIVE OF INFANT FOOD CONTAMINATION:HISTORICAL VIGNETTES

Part I: Wet Nursing Contamination Narratives: A Series of Supremacist Gestures Defining Terms

Addressing the (Colonizing) Dangers of Overgeneralizations

Wet-Nursing and Semen-Curdled Milk: Assessing the Myth of the Constitution Too Delicate to Suckle

Classism, Sexism, Ageism, and Lookism: Assessing Some Trends

The “Threat of the Dangerous Stranger”: Wet-Nursing in Select Mid-nineteenth-Century American Contexts

Human Milk Banking

White Supremacy and the Colonization of Black Women’s Bodies

Part II: Mathematical Formulas

The Advent of Scientific Infant Food and the Era of “Scientific Motherhood”

The Growing Impact of Advertising

Medicine and Markets

Colonization and the Search for New Markets:Exporting Infant Food as the More “Civilized” Choice

Breastfeeding and Population Debates

Debates Around the Possibility of HIV Transmission Through Breastmilk:A New Chapter or an Old Story?

The True Unborn Victims of Violence

CHAPTER 2. TOXIC DISCLOSURE: THE GROWING AWARENESS OF ENVIRONMENTALLY CONTAMINATED BREASTMILK IN THE CONTEXT OF MUCH-NEEDED BREASTFEEDING ADVOCACY

Rachel Carson’s Legacy

The Impact of Changing Rates of Breastfeeding in the United States on Interest in Environmental Pollutants in Breastmilk

Burgeoning Environmentalist Attention and Pulling Back Environmentalists’ Reluctance

Children’s Health Campaigns: The Power of the Internet

Impacts of the Breastfeeding Advocacy

Community Developments in Related Campaigns: Movements to Curb Formula Advertising and Use and to Protect Infant Health

Breastfeeding and Environmental Advocates: Friends or Foes?

The Role of the Press in Disseminating Stories of Breastmilk Toxicity

The Press on Toxic Fish Developments in Related Campaigns: The Environmental Justice Movement

The Sensitive and Unusual Nature of Breastmilk on a Policy Level and as a Fluid Vital to Life

CHAPTER 3. BREAST FETISHIZATION, BREAST CANCER, AND BREAST AUGMENTATION: THE CURIOUS OMISSIONS OF BREASTFEEDING AND BREASTMILK CONTAMINATION AS SIGNIFICANT FEMINIST ISSUES

A Lack of Feminist Attention

Feminist Silence on Infant Feeding: From Preoccupation with the Sexual Division of Labor to Fights for Reproductive Freedoms

Structural Impediments

Results of the Lack of Feminist Attention to Infant Feeding

Feminist Attention to Infant Feeding: “The Scientific” versus “the Political”?

Feminists Critiquing (and Embracing) Science

Who’s Doing the Feeding? Racism, Classism, and Colonization in Childcare

Work Immigrant Women Doing Childcare(In)Attention among Feminists to the Environmental Contamination of Breastmilk

What Science Can Offer: The Benefits of Breastmilk

When the “Personal Is the Political”: The Ecological Impacts of Formula-Use

Findings on the Environmental Contamination of Breastmilk and Resulting Health Effects on Women and Children

Feminist Attention to the Environmental Contamination of Breastmilk

Feminists, Environmental Justice Activists, and Breastmilk Toxicity

Structural Problems Impeding Breastfeeding in the United States: Women in the Workplace and in Environmentally Devastated Communities

CHAPTE

Sujets

• Engineering & Technology
• Environmental science

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 février 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9780791481851
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

TAINTED

b r e a s t m i l k ,

f e m i n i s m s ,

a n d t h e p o l i t i c s

o f e n v i r o n m e n t a l

d e g r a d a t i o n

MILK

M a i a B o s w e l l  P e n c

TAINTED MILK

This page intentionally left blank.

TAINTED MILK

Breastmilk, Feminisms, and the Politics of Environmental Degradation

MAIA BOSWELL-PENC

State University of New York Press

Publîshed by S U N Y P , A TATE NIVERSITY OF EW ORK RESS LBANY

© 2006 State Unîversîty of New York

All rîghts reserved

Prînted în the Unîted States of Amerîca

No part of thîs book may be used or reproduced în any manner whatsoever wîthout wrîtten permîssîon. No part of thîs book may be stored în a retrîeval system or transmîtted în any form or by any means încludîng electronîc, electrostatîc, magnetîc tape, mechanîcal, photocopyîng, recordîng, or otherwîse wîthout the prîor permîssîon în wrîtîng of the publîsher.

For înformatîon, address the State Unîversîty of New York Press, 194 Washîngton Avenue, Suîte 305, Albany, NY 12210-2384

Productîon, Laurîe Searl Marketîng, Susan Petrîe

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Boswell-Penc, Maîa, 1964– Taînted mîlk : breastmîlk, femînîsms, and the polîtîcs of envîronmental degradatîon / Maîa Boswell-Penc. p. cm. Includes bîblîographîcal references and îndex. ISBN 0-7914-6719-8 (hardcover : alk. paper) — ISBN 0-7914-6720-1 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Breastfeedîng—Health aspects—Unîted States—Hîstory. 2. Breast mîlk—Contamînatîon— Unîted States—Hîstory. 3. Infants—Unîted States—Nutrîtîon—Hîstory. 4. Food contamînatîon— Envîronmental aspects. 5. Envîronmental degradatîon—Health aspects. 6. Pollutîon— Health aspects. I. Tîtle.

RJ216.B67 2006 363.7—dc22

ISBN-13: 978-0-7914-6719-0 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN-13: 978-0-7914-6720-6 (pbk. : alk. paper)

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

2005015756

I dedîcate thîs book to my son, Thatcher, and to my

daughter, Amelîa, each of whom was born and breastfed

whîle I worked on thîs book. Your sweet smîles and

adorable laughter gave me hope that we can—will—make

the envîronment safer for all future generatîons.

This page intentionally left blank.

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

xî

INTRODUCTION

1 Advocating for Breastfeeding: An Uphill Battle A New Chapter with Familiar Patterns: Biomonitoring

Infant Feeding under Wraps

Breastmilk’s Significance

Environmental Toxicity

Laying Out the Players

C O HAPTER NE

THE EVOLVING NARRATIVE OF INFANT FOOD CONTAMINATION: HISTORICAL VIGNETTES

17

Part I: Wet Nursîng Contamination Narratives: A Series of Supremacist Gestures

Defining Terms

Addressing the (Colonizing) Dangers of Overgeneralizations

Wet-Nursing and Semen-Curdled Milk: Assessing the Myth of the Constitution Too Delicate to Suckle

viii

CONTENTS

Classism, Sexism, Ageism, and Lookism: Assessing Some Trends

The “Threat of the Dangerous Stranger”: Wet-Nursing in Select Mid-nineteenth-Century American Contexts

Human Milk Banking

White Supremacy and the Colonization of Black Women’s Bodies

Part II: Mathematîcal Formulas

The Advent of Scientific Infant Food and the Era of “Scientific Motherhood”

The Growing Impact of Advertising

Medicine and Markets

Colonization and the Search for New Markets: Exporting Infant Food as the More “Civilized” Choice

Breastfeeding and Population Debates

Debates Around the Possibility of HIV Transmission Through Breastmilk: A New Chapter or an Old Story?

The True Unborn Victims of Violence

C HAPTER  T WO

TOXIC DISCLOSURE: THE GROWING AWARENESS OF ENVIRONMENTALLY CONTAMINATED BREASTMILK IN THE CONTEXT OF MUCH-NEEDED BREASTFEEDING ADVOCACY

61

Rachel Carson’s Legacy

The Impact of Changing Rates of Breastfeeding in the United States on Interest in Environmental Pollutants in Breastmilk

Burgeoning Environmentalist Attention and Pulling Back

Environmentalists’ Reluctance

Children’s Health Campaigns: The Power of the Internet

Impacts of the Breastfeeding Advocacy Community

Developments in Related Campaigns: Movements to Curb Formula Advertising and Use and to Protect Infant Health

Breastfeeding and Environmental Advocates: Friends or Foes?

The Role of the Press in Disseminating Stories of Breastmilk Toxicity

The Press on Toxic Fish

Developments in Related Campaigns: The Environmental Justice Movement

The Sensitive and Unusual Nature of Breastmilk on a Policy Level and as a Fluid Vital to Life

CONTENTS

C HAPTER  T HREE

ix

BREAST FETISHIZATION, BREAST CANCER, AND BREAST AUGMENTATION: THE CURIOUS OMISSIONS OF BREASTFEEDING AND BREASTMILK CONTAMINATION AS SIGNIFICANT FEMINIST ISSUES

99

A Lack of Feminist Attention

Feminist Silence on Infant Feeding: From Preoccupation with the Sexual Division of Labor to Fights for Reproductive Freedoms

Structural Impediments

Results of the Lack of Feminist Attention to Infant Feeding

Feminist Attention to Infant Feeding: “The Scientific” versus “the Political”?

Feminists Critiquing (and Embracing) Science

Who’s Doing the Feeding? Racism, Classism, and Colonization in Childcare Work

Immigrant Women Doing Childcare

(In)Attention among Feminists to the Environmental Contamination of Breastmilk

What Science Can Offer: The Benefits of Breastmilk

When the “Personal Is the Political”: The Ecological Impacts of Formula-Use

Findings on the Environmental Contamination of Breastmilk and Resulting Health Effects on Women and Children

Feminist Attention to the Environmental Contamination of Breastmilk

Feminists, Environmental Justice Activists, and Breastmilk Toxicity

Structural Problems Impeding Breastfeeding in the United States: Women in the Workplace and in Environmentally Devastated Communities

C HAPTER  F OUR

POLLUTING THE “WATERS” OF THE MOST VULNERABLE: ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM, ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, AND BREASTMILK CONTAMINATION 137

Toxic Breastmilk as an “Environmental Justice” Issue

The Environmental Justice Movement: A Range of Documented Cases, with the List Still Growing

Chemical Colonization: Toxicity on the Akwasasne

The Mother’s Milk Project

The Continuing Legacy of Chemical Colonization: The Case of Latina Farmworkers

Breastmilk Contamination among U.S. Farmworkers

Buying Organic and Protecting “Our” Children: How We Forget the “Others”

Moving Toward Environmental Justice