Posted on 03/08/2005 12:43:01 AM PST by neverdem
Thank you for the information. If one doesn't have technical knowledge on an issue like this one, it is hard to know who is credible and who isn't.
BST is in milk naturally, so it would be fairly easy to pin down if it was added BST that was the factor. Since few dairies add BST those who drink added BST milk would show a difference and the study showed that there was none for all milk drinkers.
Now do a study on early puberty and watching MTV and my guess is there will be a correlation :)
Although the expert does mention this briefly in the article, I thought it needed a bit more explanation. Also, some people don't read the article...
They must be awfully young scientists as there is simply no comparision to the size and ah, fullness, of early teen girls now compared to 50 years ago, but I think that boys also are maturing earlier. I agree with the other posts that there were almost no fat kids way back then, and few fat people in general, for that matter.
I recall reading an article years ago about this same thing happening in Puerto Rico, only the source of the hormones was blamed on chicken meat raised in industrial growhouses, not milk.
I thought this was debunked years ago and the replacement theory was EARLY SEXUAL activity brought on early puberty.
Yeah, I remember my mom observing about a friend of mine who, at age 15 in circa 1961, was wearing a 36D bra: "I think she's 'hand-made'."
No hope for me then at the time, since I was about 100 lbs., wearing a 30AA, and pure as the driven snow.
Seriously, I do believe the kids today are just too physically lazy. When I was a kid we were constantly on the move, riding bikes, walking a lot, playing hide-and-seek, having an hour a day of P.E. at school, etc.
I remember when a 180 pound adult male was considered BIG and a 200 pounder was ENORMOUS. It used to be a really big deal to be six feet tall, now it is not all that unusual to see a young woman who is six feet or six feet one. I see men almost every day who look like an average sized bear.
In the interests of full disclosure, my 11-yr-old and I are svelte. :)
More than any one thing, it's ready access to sugared soft drinks at fast food outlets, convenience stores, and so forth. When I was a kid, getting a bottle of pop was a big deal, maybe 2 or 3 times a week.
If milk is related to early-onset puberty, it is because it provides excellent NUTRITION. Bovine hormones don't work that way on people, but great nutrition does.
And it tasted like a slice of heaven, didn't it?
Not good. We don't need 10 year olds having babies.
http://www.sfms.org/sfm/sfm503b.htm
I found this to be an interesting article also, especially the section about psychosocial stressors.
Birth control may be harming state's salmon
Synthetic estrogen in water seems to affect reproduction
Wednesday, June 4, 2003
By LISA STIFFLER
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Birth-control pills can curb the reproduction of more than just the women taking them. Western Washington scientists have found that synthetic estrogen -- a common ingredient in oral contraceptives -- can drastically reduce the fertility of male rainbow trout.
The man-made compounds are showing up in waterways around the nation -- pumped into rivers, lakes and Puget Sound with water from sewage-treatment plants.
And they're being found at levels that can harm fish, possibly even this region's struggling salmon populations.
"It is disturbing in the extreme," said Kaitlin Lovell, salmon-policy coordinator for Trout Unlimited in Portland.
The research by scientists at the Battelle Marine Sciences Laboratory in Sequim is unique for its focus on trout, which is related to salmon, and for looking at reproductive effects on adult fish rather than juveniles.
How fish are affected by such chemicals in the wild remains unclear. "It's something we're concerned about," said Irvin Schultz, a senior research scientist at the lab.
In the experiment, adult trout in caged pens were exposed to ethynylestradiol, a synthetic estrogen. After two months of exposure, the fish were spawned with a healthy female. Researchers discovered that the exposed trout were half as fertile as fish kept in clean water.
The research by the government-funded lab is outlined in this month's issue of the journal Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry.
The findings are likely to fuel concerns about the environmental effects of chemicals that aren't being filtered out by sewage plants, including pharmaceuticals and pesticides that can mimic hormones.
In frogs, river otters and fish, scientists are "finding the presence of female hormones making the male species less male," said Doug Myers, wetlands and habitat specialist for the Puget Sound Action Team, the government agency coordinating restoration of the Sound.
There are no standards for how much synthetic estrogen and other hormones can be released in sewage and wastewater, and treatment plants generally do not monitor for it.
The Environmental Protection Agency is studying which of these compounds have harmful effects. Then the next step will be testing for their presence in waste water. New regulations could follow.
Although trout don't have the ability to rid themselves of the synthetic hormones, Schultz doesn't think it poses a serious threat to people eating the fish because the levels in the environment are low.
There are some concerns about wastewater that is being recycled back into the environment, particularly in desert areas, where it might mix with groundwater that could be used for drinking. An official with King County said there is little cause for concern about human risks locally.
New sewage-treatment facilities are looking into special membranes that will help pull some of these contaminants out, said John Smyth, an official with King County's technology-assessment program. It's currently being considered for the planned Brightwater treatment plant that will serve King and Snohomish counties.
"Agencies like us all over the country are trying to figure out ways to tackle this thing," Smyth said.
The researchers in Sequim tested the effects of synthetic estrogen at three different levels. The scientists were surprised that even the lowest level -- 80 times lower than levels measured in the wild -- had an effect on fertility.
The scientists would like to do more tests to identify the smallest concentrations that can harm fish.
They were unable to figure out how the estrogen was causing the reduction in fertility. It appears not to affect the swimming ability of sperm.
With so many unanswered questions about what compounds are getting into the environment, their effects and how to get them out of the wastewater, environmentalists and scientists are concerned.
Said Trout Unlimited's Lovell, "If anything, these problems are only going to get worse before they get better."
I'm pretty sure that the circumstances were such that Type II Diabetes was the point of the mnemonic device. Gall stone complications seems to me to be another part of this metabolic tendency.
The Washington Post mentioned it. I posted it.
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