Toxins in plastics make boys play like girls

(Our happy fact to amaze your pub-going pals with.)

Boys exposed to certain plastics while in the womb are less likely to play with traditional male toys.

Phthalates, chemicals used to soften many household plastics, have in recent years become a huge concern to scientists -- primarily because they mimic the effects of the female sex hormone estrogen, meaning they can have gender-bending effects. In a new study, researchers at the University of Rochester, New York, tested expecting women in their 28th week of pregnancy for traces of phthalates. They later contacted the mothers again when their children were between 4 and 7 years old.

Boys born to mothers who had had elevated levels of phthalates during pregnancy were less likely to play with "masculine" toys, like trucks and guns; instead they preferred feminised or gender-neutral toys. Previous research has linked phthalates to not-fun things such as genital defects, low sperm counts and small penis size.

While we tend to ignore most of the health scares posed by common household products that we've used for years, any threat that includes the risk of small penis size is always going to be an attention grabber.

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