"Human milk is like ice cream, Valium and Ecstasy all wrapped up in two pretty packages," writes Florence Williams. Although the breast milk of a healthy woman provides 100 percent of what her baby needs, not everything found in breast milk is positive. "When we nurse our babies, we feed them not only the fats, sugars and proteins that fire their immune systems, metabolism and cerebral synapses. We also feed them, albeit in minuscule amounts, paint thinners, dry-cleaning fluids, wood preservatives, toilet deodorizers, cosmetic additives, gasoline byproducts, rocket fuel, termite poisons, fungicides and flame retardants." Williams focuses on PBDE, a class of organic compounds increasingly found in the environment due to the use of flame-retardants MOST COMMONLY USED IN CLOTHING?. Although the little is known about the health effects of PBDEs in humans, as Williams writes, "Ultimately, though, the question for me as a mother is not at what threshold of exposure will my baby be harmed, but why are we manufacturing common products made with these toxins at all?"