Some people don't seem to care about the health of their bodies. They smoke, eat too much, eat unhealthy food, touch and breathe toxic chemicals...
But what if you are pregnant? Suddenly women stop smoking and drinking. They improve their diet. The life of their child is on the line.
What do you do when everday common items are poisoning you... and your unborn child?
A study of 85 infant boys found a correlation between increased exposure to some forms of the chemical phthalate and smaller penis size and incomplete testicular descent.
The human study raises concerns because the infants did not experience levels even close to the high doses used in rat experiments. The boys' exposures, measured by analyzing their mothers' urine during pregnancy, were no higher than those found among the general population.
The last few decades have seen a rise in the types of birth defects that would be expected from prenatal testosterone interference.
The researchers found a correlation between exposure to some forms of phthalate and a measurement called the anogenital index - the distance between the genitals and the anus.
Though that measurement has no physiological significance by itself, it is connected to penis size at birth and is "a very good indicator of internal malformations"
More info here
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/27/AR2005052700279.html