There is a growing amount of concern among scientists, especially endocrinologists, that man-made chemicals in the environment (know as endocrine disrupters) are leading to younger and younger ages for menarche. Endocrine disrupters are man-made chemicals that have a molecular structure similar enough to natural hormones that they bind to the same receptor sites on human (and other species') cells. Almost none of the chemicals found in products that are in widespread use have had to undergo rigorous testing for these kinds of effects. That's because the existing laws are so lax that companies don't have to do this type of testing before putting these chemicals on the market. There are groups, like the Natural Resources Defense Council, that have been pushing to close the legal loopholes so that the human population doesn't serve as involuntary guinea pigs. But corporate entities, especially the big chemical companies, don't want tougher safequards. Some of the drop in average age of menarche can be explained by better overall health and nutrition, but not to the extent that we are seeing it today. I would hope we all would put pressure on our elected leaders to take the issue of endocrine-disrupting chemicals seriously, because the effects are implicated in conditions far beyond early onset of menarche. Herpetologists, the field of biologists who study amphibians and reptiles, have been concerned for many years about the problem of frogs and salamanders being found with ambiguous genitalia, or hermaphroditic genitalia, not to mention missing or extra limbs. Many pesticides, which are unleashed on the environment in massive quantities, including by air, are endocrine disrupters. The incidence of autism in the U. S. is now 1 in every 68 children, and with this condition as well, endocrine disrupters have been implicated. To see on a graph the drop in the average age of menarche over the last century is pretty shocking.
It's the hormones in the food. Particularly milk. They pump the cows full of hormones to keep the milk production levels high, and this side effect is that a ton of estrogen is being consumed by the general population. It has made girls get their periods about 6 years earlier than they used to, and made guys penises approximately an inch and a half shorter than the old average.
So, a girl at 8 could get pregnant and have a baby, but there is no way she could 'raise' a baby at that age, she hasn't even finished being raised herself at that point.
I think I read somewhere that the hormones in our food nowadays are causing women to start their periods earlier and earlier than they used to. I believe before it used to come about 14-16 on average, and that was when girls were getting married.
It's all to do with hormones in the body. www.momlogic.com/.../...riods_so_early_puberty.php
I started mine in the 3rd grade. Im in the 9th now.
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What's Your Opinion? Sign Up Now!Scientists have been asserting for years that early maturing is due to the environment. It could be the food, could be the materials we use, air pollutants, but no exact cause has been pinpointed yet (some of the suspects are some plastics that release materials which mimic female hormones, then there are the food additives etc.). The fact that a girl starts having her period at age generally means two things though:
1) Yes, physiologically she DOES become completely capable of getting pregnant, thus sexual intercourse with a fertile male WILL cause her to become pregnant.
2) Psychologically she DID NOT become of age. She's still incapable of fully grasping the consequence of a pregnancy and the implications brought about by a childbirth. Being 18 as the general age of maturity is there for a reason. It doesn't only give one certain rights (plus liabilities), but also assumes a certain degree of accountability (=maturity) too.
I'm 23 now. When I was 10 there were two girls in my class that had had their periods already.
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