Mother's colostrum (first milk) is known to protect newborns from various diseases. But recent research has shed light on how because of indiscriminate use of pesticides,harmful chemicals are entering mother's milk and directly getting transferred to newborns. These chemicals,though categorised as "moderately hazardous",are capable of causing neuro-behavioural problems in infants such as disorientation,concentration problems,confusion and irritability. Researchers feel more information needs to be gathered and people should be made aware of the practices that are to be followed while using such pesticides. The research centred around analysis of colostrum (from the first day of the delivery to the third day) and mature milk samples (from the fourth day) taken from mothers in rural areas of Faizabad in eastern UP,a region where the subject is yet to be properly explored. The study was carried out by Shivi Shrivastava of the Department of Bio-chemistry,Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Avadh University (Faizabad),under the guidance of S S Narvi of the Department of Chemistry,along with S C Prasad from the Department of Civil Engineering (both from Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology). The research,published early this year in a journal,was also orally presented at the National Academic Sciences India (NASI) here.
