Exposures in the womb to a ubiquitous family of industrial chemicals can subtly perturb preferences of boys for certain types of child’s play thought to be hardwired in the brain, a new study suggests. Phthalates are widely used solvents and plastics softeners. In this study, the greater a boy’s fetal exposure to certain phthalates, the less often he tended to engage in typically masculine play.
Girls’ play was unaffected, according to the study, set to be published in an upcoming International Journal of Andrology.
The reason boys like trucks and girls like dolls relates to fetal differences in brain development, explains Heather Patisaul, a neuroendocrinologist at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. Males develop differently from females — physically and behaviorally — only through programming by androgens, male sex hormones such as testosterone, she says In animals, anything that dampens the testosterone signal during fetal development, such as a chemical or genetic defect, can trigger a subtle demasculinization in males.
Because phthalates can exhibit anti-androgenic activity (SN: 9/2/2000, p. 152), Shanna Swan of the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in Rochester, N.Y., and her colleagues investigated whether testosterone-programmed behaviors in young children might be undermined by fetal exposure to the pollutants.
Researchers measured phthalates during the last trimester of pregnancy in women participating in a four-state project in the United States called the Study for Future Families. Three to six years later, Swan’s group asked these women to answer questions about play by their children — 74 boys and 71 girls.
On a one-to-five scale, with one being “never” and five being “very often,” each mom rated how frequently in the past month her child had done such things as play house, play at fighting, climb, play with dolls, dress up in girls’ clothes or show interest in wheeled cars.
Boys with the highest fetal exposures to phthalates — particularly to diethylhexyl phthalate, or DEHP, and dibutyl phthalate, or DBP — tended to exhibit lower scores on typical male play (such as playing with toy guns or pretending to play with guns) and higher on gender-neutral play (such as puzzles or sports). DEHP is in plastic tubing, including types used widely in food processing, Swan notes. DBP is a solvent in many cosmetics, including nail polish and hair sprays.
The results stood out even after accounting for potentially confounding factors, including parents’ age and education as well as parents’ attitudes about gender-typical play.
Play in the most highly phthalate-exposed boys wasn’t “feminized,” Swan explains, since these kids didn’t preferentially play with dolls or don dresses. Rather, she says, “we’d describe their play as less masculine.”
The new study is not the first to link pollutants with alterations in gender-typical play, but it does appear to be the strongest, says David Carpenter of the University of Albany in Rensselaer N.Y. Bolstering confidence that the new findings are not a fluke, he adds, is earlier research by Swan’s group: It showed fetal exposure to phthalates could alter the genital tracts of infants — again, only in boys.
More from Science News here.
Girls’ play was unaffected, according to the study, set to be published in an upcoming International Journal of Andrology.
The reason boys like trucks and girls like dolls relates to fetal differences in brain development, explains Heather Patisaul, a neuroendocrinologist at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. Males develop differently from females — physically and behaviorally — only through programming by androgens, male sex hormones such as testosterone, she says In animals, anything that dampens the testosterone signal during fetal development, such as a chemical or genetic defect, can trigger a subtle demasculinization in males.
Because phthalates can exhibit anti-androgenic activity (SN: 9/2/2000, p. 152), Shanna Swan of the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in Rochester, N.Y., and her colleagues investigated whether testosterone-programmed behaviors in young children might be undermined by fetal exposure to the pollutants.
Researchers measured phthalates during the last trimester of pregnancy in women participating in a four-state project in the United States called the Study for Future Families. Three to six years later, Swan’s group asked these women to answer questions about play by their children — 74 boys and 71 girls.
On a one-to-five scale, with one being “never” and five being “very often,” each mom rated how frequently in the past month her child had done such things as play house, play at fighting, climb, play with dolls, dress up in girls’ clothes or show interest in wheeled cars.
Boys with the highest fetal exposures to phthalates — particularly to diethylhexyl phthalate, or DEHP, and dibutyl phthalate, or DBP — tended to exhibit lower scores on typical male play (such as playing with toy guns or pretending to play with guns) and higher on gender-neutral play (such as puzzles or sports). DEHP is in plastic tubing, including types used widely in food processing, Swan notes. DBP is a solvent in many cosmetics, including nail polish and hair sprays.
The results stood out even after accounting for potentially confounding factors, including parents’ age and education as well as parents’ attitudes about gender-typical play.
Play in the most highly phthalate-exposed boys wasn’t “feminized,” Swan explains, since these kids didn’t preferentially play with dolls or don dresses. Rather, she says, “we’d describe their play as less masculine.”
The new study is not the first to link pollutants with alterations in gender-typical play, but it does appear to be the strongest, says David Carpenter of the University of Albany in Rensselaer N.Y. Bolstering confidence that the new findings are not a fluke, he adds, is earlier research by Swan’s group: It showed fetal exposure to phthalates could alter the genital tracts of infants — again, only in boys.
More from Science News here.
13 comments:
good--maybe we'll stop having wars.
10:32 --- SISSY; maybe if got rid of more types like you we wouldn't be a PC society that locks up criminals instead of giving 4th chances, men wouldn't wear purses, there wouldn't be as much gossip (either put up or shut up), and we'd be a stronger nation that doesn't give handouts for every made up disease and discrimination.
Maybe, just maybe, we'd be a Nation full of citizens that stood up and said "We love our Country, and if you don't like it; GET OUT!".
France would love to have you.
10:57
You are an idiot.
I have never typed that on this blog before, but I am sickened by the relentless barking out of orders for some people to leave the country of their birth.
I am sick of it.
It is un-American and it is offensive.
Luckily, not everyone is like YOU! Some of us have brains and think our government has hijacked our country. We want to change the government - not leave our county.
So put a sock in it. Idiot.
BS!!!...If that is the case..then we would fly over all of the countries and drop huge loads of baby dolls for their military to clean up...LMAO
Another interesting fact~The more big brother's a boy has the higher the increased risk of of him being homosexual. This is due to the mother's X trait chromosones, her age, and her immune system. Its called "big-brother effect".
And thus the liberal movement was born !
As the late George Carlin had said” We have been pussified”. With each generation we become weaker and weaker. We cannot fail children in school because it not fair! No child left behind, remember that! Papers should be marked with a pen other then red because it might hurt someone’s feelings. Don’t let your kids play in the mud in the back yard they might get sick! Don’t let them play contact sports they might get hurt! Teach them not to fight back when they are being beaten! It’s just the way society is now days. Its do what your told all the way from being born to death! Die a puppet of today’s society I don’t think so. You can blame plastic chemicals if you want, but that’s just a BS excuse!
11:31 You make a good point however I do believe chemicals in plastic has some Merritt . But I still believe homosexuality is a perversion not a special rights group !
anon 10:32 So over emotional men won't start wars yeah right you guys will be invading Canada .
Wow! Barney Frank must have had a warehouse full of toys when he was little
Phthalates are also found in all skin care products containing synthetic fragrances. Baby Magic lotion is scented with synthetic fragrance as is Johnson & Johnson's baby lotion. You would be amazed at the carcinogens people introduce to their bodies daily. People in general don't purchase a product based on ingredients, they make their purchases based on scent. If it smells good, it will be a best seller, no matter what is in it.
Read the labels, be sure the fragrance used is phthalate free. Remember the plastic bottle was made using phthalates, then it is filled with product containing more phthalates.
Check the safety of your product at www.ewg.org, click on the skindeep link.
maybe this explains why our elected leaders are so ball-less!
more like over exposure to EXCESSIVE coddling by parents, especially moms. can't wait for these sissy guys to be the ones defending us...though they can't be worse than what we have in D.C. calling all the shots.
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