Girls exposed to certain chemicals that are common ingredients in household products may be starting puberty comparatively early, a new study has found. Substances of particular concern include musk ambrette — a fragrance used in some detergents, perfumes and personal care products — and a group of medications called cholinergic agonists, according to the study, published on Tuesday in Endocrinology.
These chemicals are all known as “hormone-disrupting” or “endocrine-disrupting” compounds, due to their tendency to block or interfere with hormone function in the body’s endocrine system. To draw their conclusions, National Institutes of Health (NIH) researchers performed an initial screening of 10,000 environmental compounds and then studied the activities of select substances using lines of both rodent and human brain cells that control reproductive functions.
“Our team identified several substances that may contribute to early puberty in girls,” co-lead author Natalie Shaw, of the NIH’s National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, said in a statement.
Share this article
