The Falling Age of Puberty in U.S. Girls: What We Know, What We Need to Know

What We Can Do About the Falling Age of Puberty

From the Breast Cancer Fund Advocate’s Guide: What We Can Do About the Falling Age of Puberty
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Author’s Recommendations »
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Author’s Recommendations

What We Need to Know. There are areas of research that need to be supported to fill the holes in the science of early puberty. These include:

Basic Science – There are important areas of scientific exploration that need to be addressed for us to better understand early puberty. These include exploring the mechanism behind the initiation of puberty, the role of signaling devices like hormones and enzymes, the impact of chemical exposure during pregnancy and the effect of breastfeeding on endocrine system development, among other important areas of study.  

Epidemiology – We need large studies that follow girls from conception to adulthood like the National Children’s Study, mandated by Congress in 2000 but not yet fully funded. Studies like those in the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and National Cancer Institute-funded Breast Cancer and Environment Research Centers will contribute to our understanding of obesity and pubertal onset but ideally, would also look at the role of endocrine disrupting chemicals.

Chemical Testing – Chemicals are not tested for their ability to disrupt the endocrine system before they are allowed into the marketplace. The Environmental Protection Agency’s Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program, mandated by Congress, is eight years behind schedule and not one chemical has been screened to date. We need this screening information in order to reduce the public’s exposure to these chemicals.

Chemical Tracking – We also need to know more about the sources, emissions and fate of endocrine-disrupting chemicals in commercial use in order to reduce exposures. We need full disclosure of ingredients in consumer products, especially children’s products. We need more complete inventories of emissions and better monitoring of air, food and drinking water. The Toxic Release Inventory was one good example of chemical tracking but it has been significantly weakened.

Biomonitoring – Biomonitoring, or measuring the pollution in people, helps prioritize research on emerging chemicals of concern by identifying which chemicals are in our bodies. While the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) biomonitors a national sample of the population for chemical contaminants, it collects very little information on infants and children and cannot be disaggregated in a way that would give us a snapshot of chemical exposures at the state or local level. The California Environmental Contaminants Biomonitoring Program will address some of these gaps and build a replicable model for other states interested in creating their own statewide biomonitoring programs

What We Can Do Now. There is enough evidence of direct and indirect contributing factors for us to take action now to prevent early puberty. These include:

• Combat childhood obesity by promoting breastfeeding early in life and supporting school-based healthy school lunch and obesity prevention programs for older children.

• Support efforts to improve access to healthy foods in urban, low-income areas through the creation of farmers’ markets and community gardens.   

• Eliminate fetal exposures to toxic chemicals in our everyday lives like tobacco smoke, chemical solvents and mercury. 

• Support the phase-out of endocrine disrupting chemicals such as bisphenol A and phthalates.

• Support organic agriculture at home and in schools to reduce exposure to hormonally active residues of pesticide, animal hormones and antibiotics, and to protect watersheds from contamination.

Breast Cancer Fund Recommendations

The Falling Age of Puberty provides a clear call to action for comprehensive public education, corporate accountability campaigns and legislative advocacy efforts. In addition to fully supporting the author’s recommendations above, the Breast Cancer Fund also advocates for:

Innovative Policy Solutions. Of the possible causes of early puberty discussed above, some can begin to be addressed with public education and public health interventions. But for others—like chemical exposures, low birth weight and possibly obesity—broader, innovative policy solutions are required at the state and federal levels to protect girls from chemical exposures that may be contributing, directly or indirectly, to the falling age of puberty.

Chemical Policy Reform. In the United States, federal regulations do not adequately protect us from radiation and harmful chemicals in the environment and in the products we use. We need to reform chemicals policy at the state and federal levels. The Breast Cancer Fund is active in broad-based coalition efforts to strengthen the regulation of chemicals in California and in other states across the country. 

Corporate Accountability. The Breast Cancer Fund is committed to eliminating environmental exposures to carcinogenic and endocrine-disrupting chemicals—many that mimic estrogen in the body and can contribute to early puberty—through corporate accountability campaigns. As we have seen through the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, companies can be a part of the solution and consumers can help move the market by focusing their purchasing power on non-toxic products. Visit www.safecosmetics.org for more information.

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