The Sexual Precocity Outpatient Department in the Chongqing
Children’s Hospital has been jam-packed everyday since the annual
summer vacation began. At least 30 children are diagnosed with
child precocious puberty (CPP) on a daily basis, the Chongqing
Evening News reported on August 14. Doctors from the hospital
expressed their anxiety that sexual precocity may induce a variety
of psychological and physical diseases in children. They called on
parents and society to pay careful attention to this problem.
An eight-year-old boy growing a beard even bushier than that of
a seventeen to eighteen year old youth followed his mother through
a crowd of parents and children waiting in the CPP clinic. The boy,
feeling embarrassed, hid his blushing face in his mother’s
arms.
Prof. Lei Peiyun’s work at the clinic has kept her far too busy
to even take a drink of water. “We’d have even more patients than
these if we didn’t limit registration,” she commented. As it stands
now the doctors here always work overtime, her assistant
reported.
“Now it is quite common to see sexually precocious children,”
said Prof. Lei, adding that her clinic has been over capacity since
the summer vacation began. The doctor sees some 100 children every
day. Moreover, 30 out of the 100 are diagnosed early puberty, with
over 60 percent of them being girls, she added.
Statistics given by Prof. Lei indicate that the Chongqing
Municipality has experienced a stunning increase of CPP cases
during the past two decades. She said that in 1990, when the
hospital first established a CPP clinic under the endocrine
department, they had only 20-30 CPP patients a year. The figure was
up to 300 in 1998 and 1,000 in 2004. In 2007, it approached 2,000,
causing doctors to surmise that cases of premature puberty in
children are increasing by 20 percent annually.
Bad diet blamed
Eight-year old girls and ten-year old boys, both reaching
premature puberty, are startling examples of CPP. Besides
developing secondary sexual characteristics and ceasing to grow
taller, these children are often haunted by psychological disorders
such as anxiety attacks and extreme shyness.
“Of all the factors that may trigger the disease, diet is a
primary one,” explained Prof. Lei. Previous surveys confirmed that
sexually precocious children often ate raised chicken, duck and
finless eel. Significantly, estrogen and growth hormones have been
found in the flesh of these consumer meats, coupled with
antibiotics, food additives, and accelerating agents in fruits. All
of these chemicals promote CPP in varying degrees.
Additionally, detergent and pesticide residues, discharges from
the plastics industry and decomposed toxic agents all generate
environmental endocrine pollutants. Absorbing these poisons in
excess can cause children’s reproductive and skeleton systems to
fail to fully develop.
Moreover, contemporary Chinese society now allows children easy
access to sex-related information. This may also have some impact
on premature puberty in children.
Unconfirmed reports describe a six-year-old girl who developed
female sexual characteristics when her mother allowed her daughter
to eat many popular tonics, including cow colostrum and royal
jelly. She consumed these products ostensibly to strengthen her
body. Prof. Lei said that 50 percent of the CPP cases she attends
to were caused by excessive nutrient intake and/or unbalanced
nutrition.
Experts warn parents not to give tonics to their children
without a doctors’ advice. Loach, finless eel and out of season
vegetables and fruits should not be fed to children.
If a child begins growing abnormally, either too fast or too
slow, or if a child’s height and weight is obviously different than
his or her peers, parents should take their child to the hospital
for immediate treatment.
(China.org.cn by Zhang Tingting, August 16, 2007)