Nexus - 1103 - New Times Magazine-pages

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THE PROBLEM PRECOCIOUS PUBERTY Early sexual development, or precocious puberty, is a growing problem around the world; and while endocrine disruptors and oestrogen mimics are implicated, the medical profession generally regards this trend as perfectly normal. ulianne is a devoted mother to her beautiful and healthy-looking five-year-old daughter. But all was not as it seemed: something strange was stirring in Sarah's body. One night, while putting Sarah to bed, Julianne pulled her pyjama top over her daughter's head when Sarah suddenly exclaimed, "Ouch! That hurt when you touched my nipple." Julianne was totally surprised by her daughter's response. Upon tak- ing a closer look, she noticed that her nipples did appear to be different from what she had remembered. In fact, they looked bigger. Julianne immediately called her paediatrician to schedule tests. The results confirmed that Sarah was going through puberty. The small lumps were, in fact, breast buds. Sarah's breasts were actually developing. But she was only five years old! How could this possibly be? The doctor explained that Sarah had a condition called "precocious puberty". Julianne sat there in shock as the specialist informed her that the medical community now considers eight years of age to be the normal age for the beginning of puberty! "While I always believed that little girls go through puberty at around eleven, twelve or thirteen years of age, something very strange was now happening to our daughters. I was now being told that little girls are considered 'normal' if they start menstruating at the deli- cate age of eight!" But there is certainly nothing normal about an eight-year-old hormonally fast-forwarding into puberty. THINKING THE UNTHINKABLE It's hard enough trying to keep little girls as little girls these days. The teeny-bopper fascination with such sex symbols as Britney Spears has little girls trying to act much older than they are. If bearing the belly button in sexy midriff tops isn't enough to cause great consternation to parents, then the growing phenomenon of budding breasts and pubic hair certainly does. Discovering that their little girl has breast buds or pubic hair is a tragic shock to parents. Early sexual development—precocious puberty—seems to be happening everywhere. It's a common sight these days to see nine- and ten-year-old girls with developing breasts playing in the school playground. Something is seriously amiss. Presently, one girl out of six eight-year-olds in the USA, Australia and Britain is racing into puberty. In fact, it is a pattern emerging in young girls all over the world. Reports of early puberty have come from many diverse countries and climates including Canada, Europe, Asia and the Caribbean. This compares with one in 100 a generation ago. Precocious puberty is a phenomenon not only occurring in girls; boys are also experi- encing their version of precocious puberty. Research published in the journal Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine found that American boys appear to be beginning puberty earlier than in past decades. A significant number of boys as young as eight had signs of genital development some three years earlier than previous estimates.' In the UK, it is estimated that one in 14 eight-year-old British boys had pubic hair, in contrast to one in 150 boys of the previous generation.’ The onset of menstruation has been steadily getting earlier and earlier in Western coun- tries. It wasn't very long ago when a teenage girl's first menstruation would arrive between the ages of fourteen and sixteen. Today, the average age of the first menstruation is under twelve years of age. For many girls, however, it is happening much earlier. In by Sherrill Sellman, ND © 2004 GetWell International PO Box 690416 Tulsa, OK 74169-0416, USA Email: golight@earthlink.net Website: http://www.ssellman.com APRIL — MAY 2004 NEXUS + 21 CHILDREN BECOMING TEENS BEFORE THEIR TIME www.nexusmagazine.com