• Consequence of the presence of chemical contaminants in human milk and how to avoid them or reduce them to a minimum, (see Research Corner, page 8).
  
• Ecological consequences of not breastfeeding, namely the use of breastmilk substitutes.
  

• Producing ABM contributes to inefficient use of land, deforestation and soil erosion. Each cow that produces milk to produce ABM needs about 2 1/2 acres of land.
  
• The livestock population in the United States consumes enough grain and soybeans to feed more than five times the entire human population of the country. We feed these animals more than 85% of the corn we grow and more than 95% of the oats grown. By cycling our grain through livestock, we end up with only 10% as many calories available to feed human mouths as would be available if we ate the grain directly (3).
  

• The manufacturing of the packaging for ABM creates toxins and utilizes paper, plastic and tin. For every 3 million bottle-fed babies, 450 million tins of formula are consumed which equals 86,000 tons of tin and 1,230 tons of paper labels (4). Dioxin contamination is a byproduct of the paper making process.
  
• Making ABM contaminates water. Sewage from dairy cows as well as the fertilizers used to grow feed for them pollute rivers and ground waters, affecting many ecosystems. Vast amounts of precious water is used in making ABM (6).
  
• Producing ABM contributes to air pollution. Methane gas is second behind carbon dioxide in contributing to the "greenhouse effect" and global warming (7). In third-world countries, the wood that is burned for fuel to heat the artificial milk creates further pollution. Incineration is a common method of disposal, and the burning of the packaging, plastic bottles, nipples, and other related paraphernalia contributes further to air pollution.
  
• Processing ABM uses vast amounts of electrical energy worldwide, not only for the making of the milk, but the manufacturing of bottles, nipples, and other supplies for bottle feeding.
  
• ABM costs a lot of money that could be better spent to clean up our land, air, and water. It has been estimated that at least $429 million dollars could be saved annually if U.S. mothers in the Women, Infants and Children's Supplementary Nutrition Program (WIC) would breastfeed for just one month (8).
  

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