Posted on 11/26/2005 9:31:52 PM PST by CarrotAndStick
Plastic toys may have subtle effects on the male reproductive system, as chemicals found in products ranging from plastics to cosmetics may slowly reduce testosterone production in newborn boys, a new study has found.
Danish paediatric endocrinologist Professor Niels Skakkebfk, of the Rigs hospitalet in Copenhagen, and team report their study of newborn exposure to phthalates in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.
"It gives a small piece of information that the newborn testis may be fragile to such toxins," Skakkebfk, was quoted by ABC Online, as saying.
"Whether the effects will persist we can't tell but we were quite surprised at all to find such an association," he added.
Evidence from animal experiments suggest phthalates are endocrine disrupting chemicals that can harm the male reproductive system, says Skakkebfk.
He says humans are continuously exposed to phthalates from products such as PVC flooring, children's toys, detergents, cosmetics and food packaging.
His team looked at the impact of phthalate exposure in over a 100 baby boys in Denmark and Finland.
At three months, boys have a peak in hormones, says Skakkebfk, and this "mini puberty" is an excellent time to study whether a newborn boy has normal testicular function.
The researchers took blood samples and measured testosterone production from both the testis and pituitary gland, which interacts with the testis at around three months to produce the burst of testosterone.
Maybe it turns them into "metrosexuals".
well this may put plastic water pipes down the drain
It's a feminazi plot.... < /tinfoil>
If that is true, then why is it that when I played with my GI Joe toys all that I ever did was kick arse and take names? I spent hours building forts and trenches in the dirt, only to have GI Joe turn the backyard into a wasteland.
I've heard of this study before. I thought it was only in plastic objects that were very soft and flexible, like the IV lines that are sometimes needed for critcally ill newborns. Also, since when are plastic toys a hazard to NEWBORNS? Or food packaging? Or vinyl floors? Cosmetics? Detergents? Maybe we should all go back to living in mud huts like the greenies would have us do, except for themselves, of course.
Well, this certainly explains a lot! And what was the first generation to play with plastic toys? Why the radical 60s hippie-boomer flower children of course! And since then, Western men in general have only become more and more effeminized "girlie men", particularly those growing up in big urban centers with access to all the latest, factory-made toys and child-care products! All this time it was the plastic; it is to us what lead pipes were to the Romans!
Well, maybe it's not quite that drastic, but I do love how scientists can never seem to make up their minds about what's healthy and what isn't. We've been surrounded and immersed by the plastic they invented for fifty years and all of a sudden: "Uh, duh, well, heh, heh, turns out..." It's like milk: first it's healthy, then it's unhealthy, then it's healthy again...Or cholesterol: first it was all bad, but now there's a special kind of GOOD cholesterol too! Imagine that!
Yeah - just look what happened to this guy's name after being exposed to lead-based paint.
Well that's why you don't eat the damn things.
IIRC there was an article a few weeks ago about a study that found that the reproductive effects of pthalates were less than expected.
I read this sentence out loud and bruised my mouth.
You know what they say, "Boys and their toys."
:)
Who'd have thought that European Civilization would decline and fall because of PVC flooring, children's toys, detergents, cosmetics and food packaging?
All the girls say you have a small one...
(C'mon you walked right into that)
Ping.
I don't know if any other med journals are on to this yet.
I call bullshit.
Precious bodily fluids
Concerned researcher, or headline seeker? Witness the effects of the decline in public science education. There are too many of these types of crap articles in the news today.
Joe Blow Ph.D. isolates some horrible sounding, toxic constituent of a finished product, jumps on a roof top and screams "It's Everywhere!". Well doctor science, quite probably that nasty chemical is locked in a polymer, and doesn't want to come out and play unless you throw it in a fire. Call me skeptical.
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