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Environmental Chemicals Are Feminizing Boys

pickens writes "Denmark has unveiled official research showing that two-year-old children are at risk from a bewildering array of gender-bending chemicals in such everyday items as waterproof clothes, rubber boots, bed linen, food, sunscreen lotion, and moisturizing cream. A picture is emerging of ubiquitous chemical contamination driving down sperm counts and feminizing male children all over the developed world. Research at Rotterdam's Erasmus University found that boys whose mothers were exposed to PCBs and dioxins were more likely to play with dolls and tea sets and dress up in female clothes. 'The amounts that two-year-olds absorb from the [preservatives] parabens propylparaben and butylparaben can constitute a risk for oestrogen-like disruptions of the endocrine system,' says the report. The contamination may also offer a clue to a mysterious shift in the sex of babies. Normally 106 boys are born for every 100 girls: it is thought to be nature's way of making up for the fact that men were more likely to be killed hunting or in conflict. But the proportion of females is rising. 'Both the public and wildlife are inadequately protected from harm, as regulation is based on looking at exposure to each substance in isolation, and yet it is now proven beyond doubt that hormone disrupting chemicals can act together to cause effects even when each by itself would not,' says Gwynne Lyons, director of Chem Trust."

5 of 614 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Is it such a bad thing? by QuoteMstr · · Score: 0, Troll

    There is no reason for this post to be moderated to "-1 Troll". It's a perfectly reasonable thought.

  2. Re:Rednecks? by wellingj · · Score: 0, Troll

    It's appalling but understandable when you consider that most teachers are government employees...

  3. Re:Rednecks? by Jedi+Alec · · Score: 1, Troll

    The fundamental flaw of education is:

    1) it treats all children the same. You should learn this, because you are 7 years old. Nothing else matters. You could be a grand master in chess, but you're not allowed to write cursive yet! You have been reading since you were 3? Well, forget it, you're going to learn it all over again!

    2) No child left behind. We're treating everyone the same, and that treatment will be the one required for the dumbest. The smart ones are bored out of their skull? Who cares!

    Really? And this is the case everywhere? Guess I'll have to go and have a serious talk with the teacher I had at age 7 for daring to put me apart with a proper book because I was ahead 2 years of the rest of the class when it came to reading(switch from 1 country to another).

    Perhaps these are fatal flaws of US education?

    --

    People replying to my sig annoy me. That's why I change it all the time.
  4. Re:Rednecks? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    Private school teachers are paid even less, but then they're not expected to deal with violent kids, and most of the children either actually want to be there, or their parents force them to want to be there.

    If we started a voucher system and private schools had to accept public-school-quality students, they'd suck just as bad.

  5. Re:Dolls and tea sets? by DJRumpy · · Score: 0, Troll

    And yet not one of those studys shows that they play more or less with dolls.

    I can't speak to crying more as I've never seen a study that claimed that. The others are irrelevant to this articles claims as it had nothing to do with sex drive or increased verbal ability.