Lavender and tea tree oils may cause gynecomastia in boys

[Guest guest]

From Scienceblogs.com...

 

" Lavender and tea tree oils may cause inappropriate breast growth in boys

" Posted on: February 1, 2007 11:18 AM, by Abel Pharmboy

 

" Between the news offices for New England Journal of Medicine and NIH's

National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), you have no

doubt already heard the report that topical application of lavender and tea

tree oil-containing products has been linked with gynecomastia in three

boys.

 

" Yes, imagine being a private practice pediatrician whose 10-year-old male

patient presents with " firm, tender breast buds measuring 3.5 cm by 4.0 cm

in length and width and 3.5 cm in depth, with stretching of the areolae. " In

fact, imagine being the parent...or the boy himself.

 

" In all three cases, the boys were of average weight (obesity can sometimes

be linked to gynecomastia) and had normal blood levels of sex hormones and

pituitary sex hormone-releasing hormones. Other confounding endocrine

disruptors associated with prepubertal gynecomastia were also lacking: oral

contraceptives, marijuana, or soy products. Stopping use of the lavender

and/or tea tree-containing products led to resolution of the symptoms in all

three cases.

 

Read the rest of the story at:

<http://scienceblogs.com/terrasig/2007/02/lavender_and_tea_tree_oils_may.php

>

 

-Tim Sharpe