'Precocious Puberty' Is on the Rise

[donsu]

http://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/46213/


--------
Hormone-mimicking chemicals found in food, water, and many consumer goods may well be the cause of why children as young as eight are showing signs of sexual development.
--------


Kids these days are growing up too fast -- in more ways than one. American girls are reaching puberty up to a year earlier than in previous generations, with some children showing signs of sexual development as young as age 3. In extreme cases, girls are budding breasts before they’ve even learned to read.

Researchers call this phenomenon "precocious puberty," which some say is on the rise. Forty-eight percent of African-American girls and 15 percent of Caucasian girls show physical signs of puberty by age 8, according to a study of 17,000 U.S. girls published in Pediatrics in 1997. In a subsequent study of more than 2,000 boys, lead author Marcia Herman-Giddens found that 38 percent of African-American boys and 30 percent of Caucasian boys showed signs of sexual development by age 8.

What’s going on? Although scientists have yet to prove definitive causes, many suspect that hormone-mimicking chemicals, obesity and stress all contribute to precocious puberty. The chemicals, often called endocrine disruptors, are of particular concern because they’re everywhere -- in food, water, personal-care products, some plastics and many consumer goods.

-snip-

Still, what’s happening now in children’s bodies affects their daily lives and their future health -- and may well foreshadow broader environmental and social crises.
-snip-
----------------------------------

snips hold VITAL information

what is happening is not good! it's horrifying. and consequences are drastic.

(my mother started menses when she was 15, (I'm old) I started when I was 12, now it's 8 and 9 yrs.)

[Eurobabe]

1. And two faced cows in Virginia!! Environment problems? Yeah...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/two_faced_calf

[TahitiNut]

2. I think Mary Kay LeTourneau probably noticed this phenomenon.

:popcorn:

[sammythecat]

14. OMG

:rofl:

[Atman]

3. It's like global warming, only kids

It's a cumulative effect. We can't stop it tomorrow, but if we are somehow able to return to simpler, less chemical-centric existences, all of this shit would eventually "correct" itself. Or maybe it's just evolution?

:shrug:

.

[SoCalDem]

4. I have been suspicious about this for years..

Health classes (you know the ones I mean..the ones where the boys & girls were separated, and everyone was embarrassed to death) used to a part of 7th grade & 8th grade for a reason. They were to explain what would be happening soon..

Now "those classes" would have to be in 3rd grade :eyes:

Junior high used to be when girls started wearing bras...(no need before that)..

We're talking as recently as the 60's..

Chemical preservatives, and all the "nasties" in our water/soil/food supply have to have had an effect on humans..

It could not be otherwise.

Think about food before the 60's.

meat was cut at the stores it was sold in..wrapped in paper when sold

food was stored in GLASS containers..

cooked in cast iron/stainless steel pots & pans

food was served on china/pottery etc dishes

beverages came in glass bottles (thinking juices.sodas etc)

most food was NOT pre-prepared/packages/"instant"

desserts were flavored with sugar..not artifical or HFCS

there were not fast food places every 50 ft

kids had rigorous exercise EVERY DAY at school

kids rode bikes, played outside, ran around..not seated in front of a screen, playing games

so much has changed in my adult lifetime.. It'd mind-boggling

[Ezlivin]

5. If a girl developed breasts before she could read, she wouldn't have to read

Today's culture not only encourages young girls to act more mature, they dress them as such and pose them on the covers of magazines. I've often remarked to my wife that a lot of those magazine covers appear to be nothing more than soft child porn.

With the increase in high school girls (WTF?) getting implants as graduation gifts, the message to these unfortunate young women seems clear. And I'm almost positive that if some young child girl developed breasts there would someone, somewhere saying that this is a good thing. Imagine Jon Benet Ramsey with a c-cup.

Between the chemicals in the food and our damned twisted culture, it seems that kids can't just grow up "normally" any longer.

[Eric J in MN]

6. They inject cows with Bovine Growth Hormone

...which affects milk.

Also, with regard to meat, they pump hormones into cows and chickens to make them grow faster.

[donsu]

7. which is one of the MANY reasons I no longer eat meat or milk and

for some time now it's been known that a hair product used by blacks is full of harmones and shouldn't be used.

[Eric J in MN]

9. I don't consume meat or milk because I'm a vegan.

www.vegsource.com

[Ilsa]

12. I was told that they don't do it with chickens because

chicks mature fast enough that it isn't cost effective. The cattle, sure. Probably other animals as well. (Glad I don't eat them any more.)

I have put our family on organic milk, though, for as little as we use it. Yeah it cost a little more, but it lasts alot longer in the fridge.

My son is ten, and he has no apparent secondary sex characteristics developing yet. He is autistic though, and I am dreading the day he discovers masturbation because of all the additional behavioral mod stuff we have to work on with him.

[Eric J in MN]

20. This website says chickens are pumped with hormones.

http://www.eatmanifesto.com/eMBlog/Animal%20welfare

[Sparkly]

13. That's always been my theory as a cause of this.

I've also wondered whether it has anything to do with breast cancer. Who knows? :shrug:

[HysteryDiagnosis]

8. Hormonal warming..... so to speak.... it's worse than we can

appreciate in some locales.....

The Cause of Uterine Fibroid Tumors (Myomas)

http://www.fibroid101.com/cause.htm


More Chemical Foreign Estrogens ( Xenoestrogens)

New research by Soto, M.D. at Tufts University medical school in 1991 showed that chemical additives that make plastics last longer have estrogen stimulating effects on breast cancer cells in the test tube at parts per billion. Plastic test tubes with a new plastisizer stimulated breast cancer cells to grow wildly. Stanford University professors found a similar effect from an additive, bis-phenol A, used in polycarbonate water bottles. Bis-phenol A is also used in dental filling composites. Spanish researchers even found that some of the varnish sprayed in food cans (to prevent the "metal" taste) leached into the food. This slightly tainted food contained more than enough estrogen mimicking chemical to stimulate breast cancer cells in the test tube to grow rapidly. The above chemicals with estrogen mimicking effects are a class of chemicals known as alkylphenols.

English researchers studied a Uterine Fibroid tumors ( myomas ) in troutprofusion of hermaphrodite trout in the English rivers. They found that the sewage effluent draining into the river contained detergent breakdown products that stimulated estrogen receptors creating the hermaphrodite trout. Sumpter hypothesizes that it could be a single family of chemicals or a mixture of detergents, pesticides and plasticizers. Female trout were found in the rivers. No male trout were found - only trout halfway between male and female.

Some alligator populations are having trouble reproducing because the male penises are too small (blush!). The female alligator ovaries had used up all their eggs prematurely ("burned out"). Researchers have implicated chemical hormone disrupters.

[HockeyMom]

10. It can be genetic by ethnicity

I born in 1948. I starting wearing a bra at 8 (NEEDED it). I got my first period two weeks after my 10th birhday. My Mom, who was born in 1920, got hers at 11. My daughter, born in 1979, was also 11 when she got her first period. You could hardly claim the problem was chemicals in our environment back in 1920 or even in 1948. I can certainly remember as a child growing up having milk and Coke in bottles, no plastic wrap or containers, etc., etc.

Women with a Mediterranean/Hispanic ethnicity tend to go through puberty earlier. There have been many studies on this and I can certainly say from the history of my family and of my friends of the same ethnic background, it is probably true.

[undeterred]

11. Its true that the menstrual cycle is strongly hereditary

but this does seem to be changing. My sister, mother, and I all started menstruating at 12 or 13; my nieces were 10. When I was in grade school nobody wore or needed a bra before the fifth grade and with most it was 6th or 7th. Nowadays it seems to be quite a bit earlier than that. While some of this is probably cultural - stores pushing bras and girls wanting them at younger ages - there really does seem to be a biological change occuring.

[sammythecat]

15. That's very interesting

And, with our gene pool getting more and more homogenized, I can see how that would lead to a gradual "quickening" of sexual maturity among the general population.

[Stargazer99]

16. Do you think Corporate American really gives a damn ?

As long as those profits come in they would murder their mother.

[KT2000]

17. They see the silver lining!

They probably have already calculated the increased sales of menstrual products.

When particular pesticides were identified as possible culprits in breast cancer, one manufacturer bought a pharmaceutical company that made cancer drugs, then they started a pink ribbon campaign. With their "Survivor's Walk" they have encouraged women to become martyrs for the business plan.

[LeftyMom]

19. Earlier menarche is also a risk factor for breast cancer.

Risk seems to increase with the number of menstrual cycles, so late puberty and time spent pregnant of breastfeeding all have a protective effect.

[earth mom]

18. It's all the hormones they're putting in the food...

milk, chicken, eggs... :(

[provis99]

21. saw the initial headline, thought this was a story about George Bush

precocious puberty pretty much describes George Bush's state of mental existence for his whole life.

[NMMNG]

22. Hormones

The meat industry uses them by the truckload. x(

[HuffleClaw]

23. i blame the GAY PENGUINS

i bet its also got a lot to do with plastic soda bottles.

[mod mom]

24. my children have grown up w organic food and drink. There were girls in my

daughters 2nd grade class last year sprouting breasts. UFB! (and I live in an area where the parents can afford organic)

[ecstatic]

25. A bit of advice for parents who may be unaware

I always wondered why I ended up 5'1/5'2ish when my siblings are much taller. I recently discovered that it is because I went through puberty too early, which stunts height growth. Boys and girls who go through puberty early appear to be on track to be taller (I was around 5'1 at 9 or 10), but then end up being much shorter than peers later. I found out that there is a way for parents to put a pause on early puberty in order for their sons/daughters to continue growing taller in height--my parents were concerned about me but the doctor never mentioned that option for me. I'm female so luckily it is not tragic or anything to be this height but it still would have been nice to reach my full potential. LOL.

[The2ndWheel]

26. Why can't we just let things be sometimes?

Whether it's injecting our food with who knows what to make a higher profit, or stopping the natural process of an individual's biology, why can't we just leave things alone for just a second?

[ecstatic]

27. True... but particularly for men, there are social and economic disadvantages

to being shorter than average--at least in this society.

[Crandor]

29. This is a result of leaving things alone.

Specifically, the government is leaving the industries alone, rather than control them with regulations. The free market has decided that these puberty-inducing chemicals are fine. So, if you like "letting things be" then you should be happy about it. Myself, I prefer order and control.

[donsu]

28. and the hormones are creating 'man breasts'

a new term now added to the English language.

believe me, pre 1960s men did not have breasts. even overweight men. now even some young men have puffy breasts and puffy bigger nipples. pre 60s men's aureole was flat and the nipple was tiny. rarely seen through shirts. nowadays what's seen through shirts is puffy breasts, puffy aureoles and larger nipples. some men have enough breast to hold in the hand.

I'd like some professional photographers to show this evidence. old photogs could go into their files and pull out pics of bare chested men before 1960 and compare them to pics of bare chested 2000 + men. (not models).

if male fish in the Potomac River (by D.C.)are producing eggs - think what it is doing to other species and the human male. I'm wondering if men are also developing milk glands. people that do autopsy's would know?