Mommy Goes Green

Have you noticed girls are “blooming” earlier and earlier?  According to a new study, almost one in four black girls and one in 10 white girls in the U.S. had developed breasts by the age of seven.  SEVEN.  My daughter will be in first grade when she’s seven.  First graders should not have breasts already!

By age 8, the numbers are worse, almost 1 in 2 black girls and 1 in 5 white girls.   These numbers are getting worse.  In 1997, the proportion of white girls that had developed breasts by age seven was 5% – so in just 13 years, the number has doubled.

Early puberty is linked to early sexual experiences, low self-esteem, higher risk of eating problems,  depression, suicide, and a greater risk of breast cancer.

So what is causing this alarming trend?

There are several possible causes: the environment and childhood obesity.

One of the top environmental concerns are endocrine disruptors – chemicals that act on hormones to change bodily functions.  Bisphenol-A (BPA) sound familiar?  If not, you can read more about this chemical in plastics here, here and here.  If you drink soda – you’re ingesting a little BPA.  If you have old baby bottles (older than 2008 or so) – you’re feeding your child a little BPA.

The other endocrine disruptor commonly found in plastics are phthalates.  Phthalates are everywhere. Personal care products like perfume and nail polish,  vinyl floors, vinyl upholstery, toys, paints, packaging, detergents and even medication.   Just researching this post, I found that the medication I take to control my Crohn’s Disease is covered in a coating containing phthalates and since I’m taking large quantities per day, let’s just say my internal alarms are flying off the hook.

One other interesting finding in the study was that the prevalence of early puberty was different amongst regions.  Girls in San Francisco were found to have a lower rate (11.6%) than girls in New York (15.3%) and girls in Cincinnati (18.9%).  This could be due to San Francisco’s reputation as an area for healthy eating, exercise, low plastics and chemical use.

Let’s keep our little girls, just that. Little girls.  Not concerned about bras, sexual experiences or obsessed with their image.    Free to have tea parties with their friends, ride bikes through the neighborhood and run unabashedly through the sprinkler.

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There are often so many interesting reports and findings in the environmental health world that I’m unable to read and review them all so I’ve included several recent articles here that you can look into further if it peaks your interest – click on the headline for the entire article.

Weed killer kills human cells. Used in yards, farms and parks throughout the world, Roundup has long been a top-selling weed killer. But now researchers have found that one of Roundup’s inert ingredients can kill human cells, particularly embryonic, placental and umbilical cord cells.

Food packaging leaks BPA, phthalates. At least 50 chemicals capable of interfering with hormones is permitted in packaging in the United States and the European Union, a recent study says.

More preemies born in neighborhoods with heavy pollution from cars, trucks.  Women exposed to air pollution from freeways and congested roads are much more likely to give birth to premature babies and suffer from preeclampsia, according to a study by California scientists published Wednesday. The findings, based on births in the Long Beach/Orange County region, add to the growing evidence that car and truck exhaust can jeopardize the health of babies while they are in the womb.

Rep.Israel bill wants cleanser ingredients listed.  Household cleaners would have to carry labels with a full list of their ingredients – including potentially harmful chemicals like hydrochloric acid – under proposed federal legislation that would revamp what manufacturers must disclose on such everyday products

Lipstick makers urged to remove lead from cosmetics. Your lipstick is shocking red, but does it contain a shockingly unsafe amount of lead? Lead is often present in the pigment of the reddest lipsticks. But there are no FDA standards limiting lead and other toxins in lipstick.

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Phthalates continues to be in the news this time in a new reportwhere researchers found that newborn girls whose mothers have high levels of phthalates contained in plastics show markedly lower levels of attention and alertness than newborn boys of similar mothers. 

Remember, phthalates are a group of industrial chemicals used to make plastics like polyvinyl chloride (PVC) more flexible or resilient.  Phthalates have been found to disrupt the endocrine system and are in all different products like toys, raincoats, shower curtains, vinyl flooring, nail polish, hair spray, adhesives and shampoo.  (The phthalates associated with neurological effects in the study often appear in medical tubing, food containers, wall coverings and flooring.)   In July 2008, Congress passed legislation banning 6 phthalates from children’s toys and cosmetics and several major retailers say they will phase out phthalate-laden toys.  All toys containing the banned phthalates were to to be removed from shelves by February 10, 2009. 

Back to the new study….. Shortly after birth, neurological tests were performed on 311 infants, whose scores were correlated with phthalate measurements in urine from 295 mothers, most of whom were black or Latina and under 25 years old, according to the study, in-press in NeuroToxicology and available online. Far from abnormally high, the mother’s phthalate levels were within the range reported for the U.S. population and, in fact, over 75 percent of Americans have residues of at least 5 phthalates in their bodies. As the researchers noted, the tests attempted to measure attention to visual and auditory stimuli, motor performance and overall alertness among other behavioral assessments.   

How to Keep Yourself and Your Family Safe from Simple Steps

• Avoid buying plastics that may be treated with phthalates, including vinyl toys, shower curtains, gloves or other products. Look for “PVC”, “V” or the”3″ recycling code on the object or its packaging.
• If you have vinyl tiling in your home, damp mop regularly since phthalates bind to dust on the floor. Direct sunlight on vinyl tiles causes it to release phthalates more quickly so put lower blinds on windows that shine directly on flooring. Finally, if you’re already considering replacing the flooring, choose non-vinyl options such as cork, linoleum, wood or stone.
• Toys with the worst phthalates should already be off the shelves, but check to see if toys you already own have them.
• Look for products that don’t include fragrance in their ingredients.
• When buying cosmetics, purchase from companies that have pledged not use phthalates.

This post may contain affiliate links, please see my disclosure policy.