POPs are not good for any of us - here's one for the boys

No, I'm not talking about soda pop or paddle pops or grandfathers. POPs are persistent organic pollutants. They are very serious trouble for all living things.

I suspect they interplay with so many increasingly common modern health issues that we are far out of our depth in dealing with them. From being underweight to gender issues, from behaviour issues to genetic abnormalities.

Here's the start of the article:

Russian boys exposed to unusually high levels of environmental pollutants are smaller than their peers, a new study reports.

After following nearly 500 boys for three years, an international group of researchers found that those with the highest levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in their blood were nearly three centimetres shorter than boys from the same region with the lowest amount of PCBs in their bodies.

Boys with the highest exposures also averaged two points lower in body mass index (BMI), a measure of weight relative to height.

The authors found a similar pattern in boys with the highest exposure to the pollutant dioxin.

For the rest, see:

http://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/wellbeing/pollutants-stunt-boys-growth-20101230-19ay4.html

Check out the links for similar research too.

 

KIS for life

Miriam.