Word: rogan
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Some quirk of gerrymandering years ago in my town's Congressional district has turned this year's race into one of the most tightly contested in the nation. To complicate matters, the incumbent is 43-year old Rep. James Rogan (R-Calif.), one of the more outspoken of the House impeachment managers. With control of the House in question, these factors have turned the wide, palm-lined streets of the San Gabriel Valley north of Los Angeles into a high-profile political battlefield. The New York Times Magazine cover story two weeks ago reported the race in California's 27th...
...that reason, he chose PCBs and DDE for one of the very few large, long-term studies of chemical exposure and puberty in humans. Rogan and his colleagues began with some 600 pregnant women, measuring concentrations of the chemicals in their bodies. When their babies were born, the researchers then measured levels in the mothers' breast milk. Finally, the team monitored the children as they grew and entered puberty...
...Journal of Pediatrics, was that boys exposed to DDE and girls exposed to PCBs were heavier than their unexposed peers at age 14. The study also noted an intriguing fact: girls with high prenatal PCB exposure tended to hit the first stages of puberty a bit earlier than others. Rogan stresses that the numbers were too low to be statistically significant. "If there is an effect of environmental chemicals on puberty," he says, "it's pretty small, because we studied these kids in detail over a long period of time, and we didn't see it." But, Rogan adds...
Could other substances besides PCBs and DDE influence sexual development? Perhaps, Rogan says. But few compounds are as persistent and pervasive. Hormones given to livestock, for instance--another frequently invoked possibility--break down very quickly in the body. "I have not studied the effects of hormones in beef or dairy cattle," Rogan says. "It's not something I'm running out to study either...
...cause has yet been determined, a study published last month suggests that a possible culprit could be phthalates, which are used, among other things, to make plastics flexible. It's by no means an ironclad case, however, and the plastics industry doubts that there's any link. But, says Rogan, "what went on in Puerto Rico is a good question and one that needs more study...