BPA in Plastic Blamed for Sparking Puberty in Seven-Year-Old Girls

by Alex DiBranco · 2010-08-11 16:00:00 UTC
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When your daughter is seven years old, the last thing you expect to be on your mind is taking her shopping for bras. But for 10% of white, 15% of Latina, and 24% of black seven-year-old girls, little girls really are growing up too fast. And by eight, approximately one-third of girls have embarked on the road to puberty.

What to blame for this sudden increase in the early onset of puberty? Well, as David Orr points out on Sustainable Food, obesity can be a player: all those Happy Meals chock-full of greasy calories could be packing the pounds on your kid, which in turn leads to increased production of estrogen. But there's another, artificial culprit for these rapid changes, and that's a little something known on the street as BPA.

You've probably heard of BPA, or bisphenol-A, a chemical used in most plastics. BPA is synthetic estrogen, and since I've already mentioned that increased estrogen triggers early puberty, I think you can connect the dots here. So how much plastic do you use everyday? What food, hair products, drinks, make-up, or other items come in plastic containers? See how this might be a problem?

Early breast development can increase the future risk of breast cancer. And it also opens up a slew of problems for little girls whose bodies and hormones might be developing at a rate too fast for their minds to keep up. Can I plug here for the fact that, with issues like this, it is definitely never too early to be providing kids with sex education and explaining how to deal with their changing bodies and sexual impulses?

It is possible to be on the lookout for BPA-free plastic or switch over to glass storage containers and try to buy food that doesn't come in plastic packaging. Seven-year-old girls shouldn't need to stop by Victoria's Secret after Toys 'R' Us.

Photo credit: bpende

Alex DiBranco is a Change.org Editor who has worked for the Nation, Political Research Associates, and the Center for American Progress. She is now based in New York City.
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