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Special Issue introduction

It has been well known for decades that environmental chemicals are associated with our diet,
as they are found in foods and drinking water. Exposure to these compounds may also occur
through human milk, which constitutes a direct route for these chemicals from the mother and
the environment to infants, resulting in exposures during a highly sensitive life stage. Despite
this, there remains a poor understanding of actual exposures for most communities around
the world, leaving important knowledge gaps regarding recommendations for infant feeding,
interpretation of measurement data, and communication of study results to mothers, families,
physicians, communities, regulators, legislators and others. Similarly, there are substantial gaps
in our ability to interpret the available exposure data in either a health or regulatory context.

This Special Issue, entitled "Environmental Chemicals in Breast Milk and Infant Formula:
Measurements, Interpretation and Communication", will focus on infant exposures to
environmental chemicals from early infant nutrition sources (breast milk, infant formula,
source water used to reconstitute formula). Research that places exposure data into a health,
regulatory, or communication context is of particular interest. Potential topics include:
● Maternal and environmental transfer of environmental chemicals to infants via feeding
(measured or modeled);
● Spatial and temporal distributions of chemicals in sources of infant nutrition;
● Interpretation of these exposure data in health and/or regulatory contexts;
● Risk/benefit analyses;
● Approaches to communication regarding exposure and risk/benefit information and impacts
on international breastfeeding rates.

We cordially invite all scholars and researchers in these fields to submit your contributions (i.e.,
original research papers, review articles, commentaries, and editorials) for publication in this
Special Issue.

II Journal of Environmental Exposure Assessment