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February 17, 2007
Lavender as endocrine disruptor?
Which is easier to pronounce and more familiar to you, lavender or phthalates? Does that make you automatically more suspicious of the manmade substance than of the natural one? A tidy little piece by Maia Szalavitz of the Statistical Assessment Service (Stats) reflects on a recent scientific report in the New England Journal of Medicine that lavender and tea tree oil, two natural products used in shampoos and bath products, are linked to breast growth in young boys. What, Ms. Szalavitz muses, would the impact have been had these reports of apparent endocrine disruption been linked to manmade chemicals like phthalates or aspartame, rather than to a friendly natural substance that reminds me of my grandmother?
You may read the piece at http://www.stats.org/stories/2007/getting_lavender_feb07_07.htm.
Posted by Marian at 12:14 AM | Comments (0)