23.
Precocious Puberty
Burden of Ageing on Tender Childhood
Puberty, usually occurring during adolescence, is when kids develop physically and emotionally into young men and women.
Just few decades ago, it occurred for girls at the age of 13 or 14 and in some traditional societies even later. For boys it was slightly later than girls. But it is no longer so. Puberty is striking much earlier now. Girls as young as 6 years are attaining puberty with serious social and health implications. Sudden changes in the body at such a tender age leave them traumatised.
Precocious puberty, defined as the onset of signs of puberty before age 7 or 8 in girls and age 9 in boys, can be physically and emotionally difficult for kids and can sometimes be the sign of an underlying health problem.
Heard of the shot that delays puberty? Well, many worried parents are now opting for these growth hormone injections for their child to either delay the early onset of menstrual cycle or stop monthly periods for a couple of years.
Doctors have seen a rise in this condition in the last several years. Doctors say this condition not only has implications on the child’s height and overall growth but increases the exposure to oestrogen hormone which can lead to breast cancer at a later stage.
Early puberty also puts girls at a higher risk for teasing or bullying, mental health disorders and short stature as adults. Early sexual maturation in boys can be accompanied by increased aggressiveness due to the surge of hormones that affect them.
Under these circumstances, health experts are urging people to watch what they eat.
Historical records show that puberty in girls in the United States and Europe changed dramatically from the mid-19th to mid-20th centuries. In the first part of the 20th century, the average age of menarche declined by two to three months each decade, falling from about 17 to 13, in both the United States and Europe.
Just few decades ago, it occurred for girls at the age of 13 or 14 and in some traditional societies even later. For boys it was slightly later than girls. But it is no longer so. Puberty is striking much earlier now. Girls as young as 6 years are attaining puberty with serious social and health implications. Sudden changes in the body at such a tender age leave them traumatised.
Precocious puberty, defined as the onset of signs of puberty before age 7 or 8 in girls and age 9 in boys, can be physically and emotionally difficult for kids and can sometimes be the sign of an underlying health problem.
Heard of the shot that delays puberty? Well, many worried parents are now opting for these growth hormone injections for their child to either delay the early onset of menstrual cycle or stop monthly periods for a couple of years.
Doctors have seen a rise in this condition in the last several years. Doctors say this condition not only has implications on the child’s height and overall growth but increases the exposure to oestrogen hormone which can lead to breast cancer at a later stage.
Early puberty also puts girls at a higher risk for teasing or bullying, mental health disorders and short stature as adults. Early sexual maturation in boys can be accompanied by increased aggressiveness due to the surge of hormones that affect them.
Under these circumstances, health experts are urging people to watch what they eat.
Historical records show that puberty in girls in the United States and Europe changed dramatically from the mid-19th to mid-20th centuries. In the first part of the 20th century, the average age of menarche declined by two to three months each decade, falling from about 17 to 13, in both the United States and Europe.
Profit-seeking Leeches - Swallowing An Entire Generation
Our children are being destroyed in the name of profit by big industry and factory farms who feed their animals steroids, growth hormones and antibiotics to make them fatter, faster. More and more yield of meat from an animal means more and more profit, and if we need to sacrifice a generation of children along the way, so be it.
And these are not just the rantings of some liberal, tree-hugging vegan. According to Cornell University, hormones “reduce the waiting time and the amount of feed eaten by an animal before slaughter in meat industries.” And that means bigger profit... faster.
Meat, dairy and poultry lobbyists hide the real facts and peddle hormone, antibiotic and steroid-laced food to our children. And we wonder why little girls look like very big girls far before their time.
If hormones can make an animal fat, what do you think will happen to the children? We have always had access to junk food, but never in human history have we been the subjects of such an intense ingestion of chemicals and hormones.
Dr. Andrew Weil states that more than two-thirds of the cattle raised in the U.S. are given hormones, usually testosterone and estrogen to boost growth. According to Cornell, there are actually six hormones commonly used in meat and dairy production: estradiol, progesterone, testosterone, zeranol, trenbolone acetate and melengesterol. Another growth hormone to promote more milk production in dairy cows is rbGH.
And these are not just the rantings of some liberal, tree-hugging vegan. According to Cornell University, hormones “reduce the waiting time and the amount of feed eaten by an animal before slaughter in meat industries.” And that means bigger profit... faster.
Meat, dairy and poultry lobbyists hide the real facts and peddle hormone, antibiotic and steroid-laced food to our children. And we wonder why little girls look like very big girls far before their time.
If hormones can make an animal fat, what do you think will happen to the children? We have always had access to junk food, but never in human history have we been the subjects of such an intense ingestion of chemicals and hormones.
Dr. Andrew Weil states that more than two-thirds of the cattle raised in the U.S. are given hormones, usually testosterone and estrogen to boost growth. According to Cornell, there are actually six hormones commonly used in meat and dairy production: estradiol, progesterone, testosterone, zeranol, trenbolone acetate and melengesterol. Another growth hormone to promote more milk production in dairy cows is rbGH.
Female Infants Growing Breasts
Female infants in China who have been fed infant formula have been growing breasts. According to the official Chinese Daily newspaper, medical tests performed on the babies found levels of estrogens circulating in their bloodstreams that are as high as those found in most adult women. These babies are between four and 15 months old. And the evidence is overwhelming that the milk formula they have been fed is responsible.
Chinese dairy association says the hormones could have entered the food chain when farmers reared the cows. Bovine growth hormones (invented by Monsanto) are used in China, as they are in the U.S., to promote greater milk production.
This isn’t the first time something like this is happening. In the 1980s, doctors in Puerto Rico began encountering cases of precocious puberty. There were four-year-old girls with fully developed breasts. There were three-year old girls with pubic hair and bleeding. There were one-year-old girls who had not yet begun to walk but whose breasts were growing. And it wasn’t just the females, young boys were also affected.
Writing a few years later in the Journal of the Puerto Rico Medical Association, Dr. Carmen A. Saenz explained the cause. “It was clearly observed in 97 percent of the cases that the appearance of abnormal breast tissue was...related to local milk in the infants.”
Chinese dairy association says the hormones could have entered the food chain when farmers reared the cows. Bovine growth hormones (invented by Monsanto) are used in China, as they are in the U.S., to promote greater milk production.
This isn’t the first time something like this is happening. In the 1980s, doctors in Puerto Rico began encountering cases of precocious puberty. There were four-year-old girls with fully developed breasts. There were three-year old girls with pubic hair and bleeding. There were one-year-old girls who had not yet begun to walk but whose breasts were growing. And it wasn’t just the females, young boys were also affected.
Writing a few years later in the Journal of the Puerto Rico Medical Association, Dr. Carmen A. Saenz explained the cause. “It was clearly observed in 97 percent of the cases that the appearance of abnormal breast tissue was...related to local milk in the infants.”
“So this is what commodity corn can do to a cow: industrialize the miracle of nature that is a ruminant, taking this sunlight- and prairie grass-powered organism and turning it into the last thing we need: another fossil fuel machine. This one, however, is able to suffer. ”
~Michael Pollan, The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
Along with China, the U.S. is today one of the few countries in the world that still allows bovine growth hormones to be injected into dairy cows. Though banned in Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and most of Europe, the use of these hormones in U.S. dairy is not only legal, it’s routine in all 50 states.
The problem is that dairy products made from cows injected with the hormone are not labeled. It’s because Monsanto, the original manufacturer of BGH, has aggressively and successfully lobbied state governments in the past to make sure that no legislation is passed that would require such labeling.
As if that wasn’t enough, Monsanto has also insistently sought to make it illegal for dairy products that are BGH-free to say so on their labels.
We also have to look at other options and invest in the health of our children before we lose an entire generation because we just want cheap, fast food. There are alternatives to these altered foods that can nourish our families and children healthfully and affordably.
The problem is that dairy products made from cows injected with the hormone are not labeled. It’s because Monsanto, the original manufacturer of BGH, has aggressively and successfully lobbied state governments in the past to make sure that no legislation is passed that would require such labeling.
As if that wasn’t enough, Monsanto has also insistently sought to make it illegal for dairy products that are BGH-free to say so on their labels.
We also have to look at other options and invest in the health of our children before we lose an entire generation because we just want cheap, fast food. There are alternatives to these altered foods that can nourish our families and children healthfully and affordably.
In his book, Healing the Planet One Patient at a Time, Dr. Jozef Krops research indicates that breast milk in women in Western countries is so seriously contaminated that it would not pass American Food and Drug Administration standards if it were a packaged product. He adds, In the Eastern seaboard and southwestern United States (the most highly industrialized parts), mothers are not recommended to breastfeed past six months, as the baby by then already has the maximum lifetime amounts of carcinogens in its cells.
~ Michelle Schoffro Cook