This is both alarming and interesting, but from what I know of mammalian
biology, the reporter seems to have it wrong in suggesting "babies who
should be boys are born girls." Unlike fish, at least some of which
naturally change sex as adults, to the best of my knowledge, the gender of
all mammals is determined at conception, although there are rare cases of
babies who are genetically boys but lack normal external male genitalia and
thus are believed to be girls for the first few years of their lives. I've
read studies suggesting that condition might be associated with abnormal
exposure to estrogen or estrogen-like compounds.
Unless the excess girls really are genetically boys (which wasn't
suggested in the posting), it seems more plausible that male fetuses are
more susceptible to some environmental stress (which might be pollution) and
thus not as many boys as girls survive long enough to be born.
I don't want to detract from this if it is real, but another question
comes to mind: is this phenomenon wide enough spread to be statistically
significant? 35% vs. 51% (106 boys/206 total babies) seems like a large
difference but the number of babies born in a village of 870 total
population can't be a very large sample size. 105 vs. 106 boys per 100
girls in Britain is a much larger sample size but it is a much smaller
difference.
Regards,
Edna
<snip>
Chemical agriculture may also be causing the loss of boys. One main
concern in Canada is the impact on Jr. Hockey. It is little surprise
that in this years Olympics the Canadian Women's team was farm superior
to the Man's.
Pollution: Where have all the baby boys gone?
Every year, thousands of British babies who should be boys are born
girls. The answer to this mystery could lie in a small town in Canada.
Geoffrey Lean reports
The Independent
Published: 02 April 2006
Something very strange is happening in a small but highly polluted
Canadian community. And it may explain why every year thousands of
British babies who should be boys are born as girls instead.
<snip>