Vulnerable means being susceptible to physical injury or assault. The most vulnerable are children and the unborn. They aren't just small adults. They physiologically and culturally different. They lick stuff. They run around, and get winded. They'll touch anything and eat most things. And the science is beginning to show that today's babies will have shorter lifespans than today's adults. Obesity is a huge factor. Toxics include junk food!
Sandra Steingraber: Living Downstream, and Having Faith
Dr. Michael Lipsett: Air quality standards
Joe Booth: Legal Director of xxxx, and a biochemist
Elise Miller: Initiative for Children's Environmental Health
Is the average age of puberty for US girls declining? The earlier puberty starts, the higher the risk for breast cancer as an adult. Sandra Steingraber did a huge review of the literature and it's available on breastcancer.org. The answer, is yes. The 1970 median age for onset of breast development was 11.5 for breasts and menstruation at 12.8 years. Now it's 10 years old for white girls and 8.9 years for black girls. Menarche is about the same. Thus the start point s earlier and the pace of puberty (time til first ovulation) is slower. Estrogen without progesterone for a longer period of time is basically what happens.
Why? Obesity. Chubbier girls go into puberty sooner than lean girls. But lean girls are also going into puberty sooner than they used to. Why? Psycho-social stress is also a trigger. TV, breastfeeding in infancy? Chemical exposures? All are factors bt causility is still unclear. Chubby girls watch more TV and breastfed infants grow up leaner.
Neroendocrinology. The hypothalamus and GRH are at the heart of hormonal orchestration of sexual maturation. This process has to be elastic and maleable--lots of bodily and environmental signals are involved. Here's an interesting one: light at night, as in light from the TV screen my be impactful! Yikes!
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