Pollutants cause of slow growth

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After following nearly 500 boys for three years, an international group of

researchers found that those with the highest levels of polychlorinated

biphenyls (PCBs) in their blood were nearly three centimeters (more than an

inch) shorter than boys from the same region with the lowest amount of PCBs in

their bodies.Boys with the highest exposures also averaged two points lower in

body mass index (BMI), a measure of weight relative to height. The authors found

a similar pattern in boys with the highest exposure to the pollutant dioxin.

A small number of people in the U.S. and other developed countries live in

regions with exposures that match - or even exceed - those seen here, she added.

PCBs were once used in everything from appliances and fluorescent lighting to

insulation and insecticides. While the chemicals were banned in the 1970s as

potential health hazards, they remain a public-health concern because they

linger in the environment and accumulate in the fat of fish, mammals and birds.

Research has linked PCBs to an elevated risk of cancer, type 2 diabetes and

other ailments. A study of children in Taiwan also found that those exposed in

utero to PCBs from contaminated cooking oil were shorter than their peers.

Dioxins are toxic substances formed by burning -- for example in waste

incinerators or forest fires -- and in some industrial processes. Airborne

dioxins are deposited onto plants, soils and water, and they enter the food

chain when ingested by livestock and fish. Dioxin exposure has been shown to

lead to both higher cancer rates and changes in birth rates resulting in more

female babies and fewer males. See below for entire article.

SOURCE: http://link.reuters.com/vab24r Pediatrics, online December 27, 2010.