Dame Suzi said she was particularly concerned that girls under 18 were being offered the procedures, as the risks of complications are higher if surgery is performed before full genital development has been completed.
The aim of this case control study was to explore the relationship between exposure to non-persistent EDCs during pregnancy and male genital development.
One study has drawn a statistical association between exposure to some phthalates in the womb and borderline changes in genital development.
A recent study has shown that even high levels of DEHP have shown no effect on the genital development of marmosets -- let alone humans.
It's believed a quarter of U.S women have enough phthalates (fossil fuel-derived chemicals used in plastics, perfumes, hairspray and nail polish) in their bodies to interfere with their son's genital development.
Investigators have used the anogenital distance as a marker for normal genital development.
The current report established that AGD might also help determine genital development and function in adult men.
Given the correlation between anogenital distance and genital development, we sought to determine if anogenital distance varied in fertile compared to infertile adult men.
In mammals, Hoxd13 is required for anorectal and external genital development, and its expression in the genital tubercle and digits is under shared genomic regulation [51], [70].
Interestingly, several rat studies have also established a critical masculinization programming window where endocrine disruptors can permanently alter genital development, growth, and function [15], [16].
As such, AGD may predict normal male genital development, and could therefore provide a novel metric to assess reproductive potential in men.
