GenderLife Forum: The Information Exchange

Moving my stuff is hard work! I found this journal from the late 80's which I wrote TS/ TV info. and other facts that interested me and I don't know if it's true. Apparently some immigrants into the US I believe were given showering in an INS camp (what a country!) to remove lice. A side effect: breast enlargement! These men complained of "woman-sized breasts" and were going to sue the Govt. Does anyone know about this? Did I write this sane( I was a stressed out kiddie!)? Did I listen to a tabloid?I have no date or source( bad journalistic tactic!)? Can we send this as shampoo to all those we "love"?
X-files,
annette

if this is true I want mine now!!! Lice Doctor I suffer from lice help me please help me

That would be an interesting shower. I can imagine it now, "All you immigrants, Welcome to America, we have a surprise for you"?

I wonder how old this reference was? Before it was banned in 1972, the pesticide DDT was used in lice-treatment shampoos. DDT is chemically similar to estrogens, although very much weaker. Sometimes called a 'Xenoestrogen' or 'estrogen mimic'. One of the side effects claimed at high dosage of DDT is breast enlargement, as well as loss of fertility, and fetal development abnormalities. Indeed, reproductive problems in birds as an environmental effect is one of the main reasons DDT was banned. So, I doubt that the Immigration Service is still administering these showers.

Danielle

Makes you wanna say HMMMMMMM.

Contrary to popular belief, lice does not tend to nest in hair that is dirty. In fact, those with oily hair can be exposed to lice but not get it. They simply can not live on oily hair.

So keeping your hair clean won't keep you from getting lice, just staying away from those who have it.

As far as the effects of the treatment, I'd like to know more about that, but it doesn't sound very safe or else they'd probably still be using it.

Hi Kristina.
I did a bit of research on this topic, and it looks like the incident with the Immigration Service was in 1981. They apparently processed a large group of Haitian illegal immigrants, and found that about 15% of the men had 'gynecomastia', which is male breast enlargement. The governement blamed it on exposure to pesticides, most probably pyrethin, before the men left Haiti. Apparently the whole group were farm workers. The gynecomastia condition had largely gone away six months later. Here's some URL for sites describing the incident:
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00000249.htm

http://www.cfe.cornell.edu/erap/WNV/WNVEducDocs/Garey-Wolff1998.pdf

And there was a technical article published:
Sattin, R. W., Roisin, A., Kafrissen, M. E., Dugan, J. B., and Farer, L. S. (1984). Epidemic of gynecomastia among illegal Haitian entrants. Public Health Reports 99, 504-510.

Sorry that this is all some pretty technical reading. But I also looked up Pyrethroids (the pesticide at blame), and it looks like a very toxic substance. I don't recommend that anyone attempt to self-medicate themselves with this stuff. The real-stuff estrogens are reasonably easy to get with a prescription, are a lot more effective and lots safer.
Danielle

Danielle,
Thanks I hoped there was some truth in it ( or I was starting to doubt my sanity back then!). Although I got the info. wrong again.
Just wondering ,
Annette

The most talented of the talented,
Diverse of the diverse
gifted of the gifted,,,
WHAT A GROUP
enough said.

Hi Sela.
Thanks for the kind words, and yes, its true that we can acoomplish a lot working together. I do have one amusing story about hormones and self-medicating. Seems that I once tried to synthesize estrogens in the laboratory. A company called Wyeth Laboratories holds patents on the process, and the patents are available to the public. The stuff is named 'premarin' because it was first isolated from 'Pregnant Mare Urine', but the large-scale industrial production is made by chemically processing an extract from a certain type of Mexican yams. So, I read up on the patents and tried it myself. Take my word for it, the process doesn't work with American sweet-potato yams. You do end up with a lot of very sad-looking sweet tater mush.
Hugs, Danielle