Hormones in Milk Causing Babies in China to Grow Breasts

According to a recent study, babies in China have been growing breasts, and signs point to hormones in their milk supply as the trigger. Medical tests showed that the babies' bloodstreams contained estrogen levels that exceeded amounts appropriate for full-grown women

Say it together now: BGH-free for you and me. (Photo: goosmurf/Creative Commons)

According to a recent study, babies in China have been growing breasts, and signs point to hormones in their milk supply as the trigger.

Medical tests showed that the babies' bloodstreams contained estrogen levels that exceeded amounts appropriate for full-grown women.

John Robbins, author of The Food Revolution and Diet For a New America, wrote at Huffington Post that, while shocking, the Chinese development is hardly the first case of its kind.

In the 1980s, doctors in Puerto Rico began encountering cases of precocious puberty. There were 4-year-old girls with fully developed breasts. There were 3-year-old girls with pubic hair and vaginal bleeding. There were 1-year-old girls who had not yet begun to walk but whose breasts were growing. And it wasn't just the females. Young boys were also affected. Many had to have surgery to deal with breasts that had become grossly swollen.

Synutra, the company that makes the baby formula the Chinese infants consumed, is admitting no fault and claims to have used no hormones in its product. Local food safety authorities are denying one mother's request that the formula be tested, on the grounds that they do not perform tests requested by consumers.

If Synutra is, in fact, correct that their formula is hormone-free (and there's no evidence yet), there's a possibility the hormones entered the milk supply during cattle rearing. Mr Wang Dingmian, the former chairman of the dairy association in the southern province of Guangdong, said, "'Since a regulation forbidding the use of hormones to cultivate livestock has yet to be drawn up in China, it would be lying to say nobody uses it."

That loophole exists outside of China as well—in the U.S., one of the few countries in the world that still permits bovine growth hormones.

Robbins writes, "Though banned in Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and most of Europe, the use of these hormones in U.S. dairy is not only legal, it's routine in all 50 states."

Recombinant bovine growth hormones (rBGH) increase milk production in cows; but there is evidence that the hormones stick around in the milk, causing health problems for humans. Insulin-like Growth Factor-1 (IGF-1), found in cows that have been treated with rBGH, poses serious risk of breast, colon, and prostate cancer. Furthermore, says Robbins, "IGF consumed by humans...is rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream. It isn't destroyed by human digestion. And pasteurization is no help. In fact, the pasteurization process actually increases IGF-1 levels in milk."

So what can you do? For starters, make informed choices.

The Cancer Prevention Coalition says, "Milk that is clearly labeled 'NO rBGH' is free of rBGH and does not contain excess levels of IGF-1. American-made cheeses are contaminated with rBGH and excess levels of IGF-1 unless they’re labeled 'NO rBGH.' Imported European cheeses are safe since Europe has banned rBGH." (For more information on BGH treated milk, go here.)

Other personal measures—breast feeding, drinking organic milk, and being informed about dairy products—can also help protect against excess hormones. Food and Water Watch provides a rBGH-free dairy guide here.

Some companies are taking the lead. Starbucks removed rBGH milk from many of its locations in 2007. Ben & Jerry's uses dairy products from farms that have pledged to abstain from rBGH. In February of 2009, General Mills cut rBGH-treated milk out of their Yoplait yogurt products.

But the greatest change must come from the top. TakePart now with the action link below to get rBGH milk out of schools.