- Minute amounts of ''gender bender'' chemicals found in
food and the environment are affecting the behaviour of pre-school children,
new research shows.
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- The Environment minister Michael Meacher said yesterday
the research was very disturbing and he would ask his officials to "urgently''
examine its implications tomorrow morning.
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- The study - carried out by doctors and scientists at
the Erasmus University in Rotterdam - is the first in the world to show
that normal levels of the chemicals affect humans. It follows a host of
studies showing that gender-benders can turn wildlife species, from gulls
and alligators to fish and turtles, into hermaphrodites. In the case of
the children in the study, the chemicals caused girls to play with guns
and pretend to be soldiers, and boys to play with dolls and tea sets and
dress up in female clothes.
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- The research, published in the scientific journal Environmental
Health Perspectives, is part of a long-term study into the effects of PCBs
and dioxins on children. The researchers measured levels of the chemicals
in the blood of 207 mothers in their final month of pregnancy, in umbilical
blood at birth, and in breast milk two weeks after birth, to determine
exposure in the womb.
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- They later asked the parents of the children, now aged
seven, to record their patterns of play.
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- The girls exposed to higher levels of PCBs were more
likely to engage in masculine play, while similarly exposed boys were more
likely to enjoy feminine play. Dioxins produced more feminine play in boys
and girls.
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- The most disturbing aspect of the study is that the mothers
were exposed to routine amounts of the chemicals - probably from eating
normal food, experts believe. Previous studies have found that the chemicals
damage the immune systems, neurological development and intelligence of
children.
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- Nearly one and a half million tons of PCBs have been
spread around the world in materials such as paint and plastic. They have
been banned in industrialised countries but persist in the environment
and in body fat. Dioxins and PCBs both contaminate food at low levels.
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- http://news.independent.co.uk/world/environment/story.jsp?story=344178</
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