Oakey contamination: Fears chemicals passed on in breastmilk

A QUEENSLAND town contaminated by chemicals from a nearby defence base now fears its most helpless residents have been poisoned in the most insidious of ways.

Diane Stocker with daughter Stacey Stocker and grandchildren Matthew Stocker, 3, and Bailey Cooper. Stacey, a past resident of Oakey, had to have her gall bladder removed and fears passing on contaminants to her children. Pic: David Martinelli

• Cry for help to fix toxic town
• Health Minister slams Defence Dept
• Residents told land is worthless
• Town’s groundwater contaminated

OAKEY mothers have raised concerns that health guidelines show toxic chemicals PFOS and PFOA can be “detected in human breast milk”.

As The Courier-Mail has reported in the past week, groundwater in the Darling Downs town have been contaminated with the chemicals from the nearby army aviation base, raising health concerns and rendering properties worthless.

Guidelines released by the Australian Environmental Health Standing Committee (enHealth) this year revealed that mothers could expose their newborns to the toxic industrial chemicals while breastfeeding.

But the committee told mothers worried about contamination to keep breastfeeding their children as the health benefits were well established.

Once absorbed, the industrial toxins can take up to a decade to reduce in a person’s body, and were linked to foetal developmental issues such as skeletal variations and low birth weight.

Exposure to PFOS and PFOA has also been linked to a range of serious pregnancy-related conditions such as miscarriages, pre-­eclampsia and fertility issues.

The US Environmental Protection Agency Health Advisory has warned that unborn babies are “particularly sensitive to PFOA-­induced toxicity”, as well as breastfed infants.

Based on studies of the drinking water intake of lactating women, the advisory concluded that breastfeeding mothers “can pass these chemicals along to nursing infants through breastmilk”.

Diane Stocker has breastfed all four of her children but said Oakey mothers should consider the risks of toxins to their children before breastfeeding.

Mrs Stocker, 44, has spent most of her life living in Oakey and said she might have unknowingly passed on PFOS and PFOA to her children through breast milk.

“I have always been around bore water – swimming in it, cooking with it, drinking it – and never thought about it once,” she said.

Mrs Stocker’s 21-year-old daughter Stacey and 12-year-old son Thomas have had their gallbladders removed, and Mrs Stocker had half of her thyroid removed.

There is no history of these illnesses in the family.