Pregnant women who take slimming pills 'are more likely to have gay children'

By Robert Matthews, Science Correspondent
Last Updated: 11:51PM GMT 04 Dec 2004




Women who take slimming and thyroid pills during pregnancy are substantially more likely to have homosexual children, according to research.

A study of thousands of mothers and their adult children has revealed that Thyroxine – used to treat thyroid deficiency – and amphetamine-based diet pills appear to influence sexual orientation.
Both were identified as being strongly linked to a higher rate of homosexuality among female offspring.

The mothers of homosexuals were found to be up to eight times more likely to have taken such drugs, with the effect being strongest with daughters whose mothers took the drugs during the first three months of pregnancy.
The discovery, to be published by researchers in America, backs claims that human sexuality is determined by genetic and biochemical factors at work during early pregnancy.

Prof Lee Ellis and colleagues at Minot State University, North Dakota, traced the mothers of more than 5,000 American and Canadian students and members of gay and lesbian support groups, looking for links between prescription drugs taken during pregnancy and the sexual orientation of their children.

The researchers found that the mothers of homosexual women were at least five times more likely to have taken synthetic thyroid medications during pregnancy than mothers of heterosexual women, and eight times more likely to have used amphetamine-based diet pills such as Dexedrine and diethylpropion.

They also found evidence that some drugs have the opposite effect during pregnancy, reducing the probability of homosexual offspring.
Mothers of heterosexual males were 70 per cent more likely to have taken drugs to combat nausea than those of male homosexuals.

The results suggest that the effect of the drugs is strongest with female babies and when taken during the first three months of pregnancy, which accords with previous studies showing that sexual orientation is decided during this period.
The results will appear in the journal Personality and Individual Differences.

Prof Ellis and his colleagues state: "These analyses support the conclusion that female offspring are more vulnerable to alterations in sexual orientation via exposure to a variety of prescription drugs, and suggest that this vulnerability is greatest during the first trimester."
The researchers emphasise that the numbers taking the drugs were small and that a larger study should be undertaken.

Nevertheless, they conclude: "Mothers of the female homosexuals were significantly more likely than mothers of female heterosexuals to have taken diet pills and thyroid medications during pregnancy."

Dr Glenn Wilson of the Institute of Psychiatry, London, and author of a forthcoming book on the origins of homosexuality, said: "These types of medication could have an effect on brain chemistry and research suggests that this is a major factor in determining sexual orientation."

Prof Jim Dornan, the vice-president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said that the findings were in line with others pointing to the importance of pre-natal factors in adult life.
"We know that nutrients during pregnancy can affect health in later life.
This is a very interesting finding and definitely deserves further study."

The finding adds to mounting concern over the use of slimming pills by women trying to lose weight.
Prof Dornan said: "All drugs can cross the placental barrier and, looking back, we weren't so aware of what was going on inside the womb.
Nowadays, the Royal College's view is that women should not take drugs unless there is a clinical need."

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Interview with Fr Peter Kennedy

If you click on, ABC Brisbane, it will show you a video interview with Fr Peter Kennedy from St. Marys in Brisbane.

Premarital Sex

An interesting read I found in regard to the Physiological side of having Sex.
Part of an answer as to why NOT to have Sex.




Everyone talks about how hard it is to say no, but no one tells you how hard it is when you say yes.

In regard to the physiological side of things, it's very dangerous for a young single woman to be sexually active.
Because a teenage girl's reproductive system is still immature, she is much more susceptible to STDs.
In fact, early sexual activity is the number one risk factor for cervical cancer, and the second is multiple sex partners.
A girl's heart, like her body, is not designed to handle multiple sexual partners. Besides making herself vulnerable to STDs, your friend also needs to consider if she is ready to be a mom.
Lastly, consider the fact that the rate of suicide attempts for sexually active girls aged twelve to sixteen is six times higher than the rate for virgins.
Tragically, these girls don't realize the purity and forgiveness that they can find in Christ.

New scientific studies also suggest that if a woman has multiple sexual partners, this will lower her levels of oxytocin which in turn will damage her ability to bond.

Oxytocin is a neuro-peptide most commonly associated with pregnancy and breast-feeding.
It seems to act as a human "superglue," helping a mother bond with her infant.
It is also released during sexual arousal and there, too, seems to work as a "superglue."
Since estrogen enhances the oxytocin response, females are capable of more intense bonding than males, and are more susceptible to the suffering that accompanies broken bonds.

According to an article by Drs. John Diggs and Eric Keroack, "People who have misused their sexual faculty and become bonded to multiple persons will diminish the power of oxytocin to maintain a permanent bond with an individual."

In more basic terms, sharing the gift of sex is like putting a piece of tape on another person's arm.
The first bond is strong, and it hurts to remove it.
Shift the tape to another person's arm and the bond will still work, but it will be easier to remove.
Each time this is done, part of each person remains with the tape.
Soon it is easy to remove because the residue from the various arms interferes with the tape's ability to stick.

The same is true in relationships, where previous sexual experiences interfere with the ability to bond.

But a sexual relationship that is properly bonded from the start, such as that between two virgins on their wedding night, has one advantage among many:
Oxytocin helps to maintain the "high" of sex in a long term relationship.
This does not mean that if a person is not a virgin on the wedding night, he or she will be unable to bond with a spouse.

It simply means that when we follow God's plan, we have the most abundant life possible.

Struggling with the rosary

By Brian Pessaro, from Godspy.

The Rosary is excruciating. There I said it.
Archbishop Fulton Sheen said it was the most perfect prayer because it takes 19 minutes, which is the maximum time the average person can maintain a state of concentration. The truth is the Rosary can be a real chore.

St. Thérèse, the Little Flower, was being more honest when she said, “I am ashamed to confess it, but the recitation of the Rosary costs me more than to use an instrument of penance. I feel I am saying it so badly. Try as I may to make myself meditate on the mysteries, I never manage to fix my thoughts on them." Amen sister. I’m with you. And yet, like St. Thérèse, I wouldn’t give up the Rosary for anything.

I’ll admit I’m not always perfect about making it my top priority. I’ve often flopped into bed late at night only to realize I hadn’t done it yet.
I groan as I slide out from the sheets and reach for my beads on the nightstand. Those next 19 minutes are a far cry from the “perfect prayer” Archbishop Sheen described.
I can barely keep my eyes opened much less my mind focused. To be honest, it’s not much easier when I’m wide awake. I stink at contemplating the mysteries. The best I can manage is to visualize a picture from one of my Rosary booklets or a scene from The Passion of the Christ.

Distractions? Don’t get me started. On my way home from work, I’m bombarded with thoughts of everything but the mysteries. “The third joyful mystery is the… now what was it I was supposed to pick up from the grocery store… Was that my 9th Hail Mary or my 10th? Oh man, I just ran a red light! Sorry Mary.”
So why do I persist if it’s such drudgery? Simple. I wouldn’t be where I am today had it not been for Mary’s intercession.

This is my story.

Since the age of 11, I was addicted to pornography.
It began simple enough with sneaking peaks at my best friend’s father’s Playboys in the basement of his house.
But by the time I was 25, I was so hooked on Internet porn that I would itch for my wife to leave the apartment so I could secretly jump online. Several times over the years I tried to quit.
Each time, not only did I fail, but the addiction got worse to the point where I gave up resisting.
Then a friend of mine, who knew nothing of my addiction, loaned me a book on Mary and her supposed apparitions in Međugorje. I’m undecided about whether those apparitions are real. I’ll leave that to the Church to decide. However, I can tell you what is real. That book was what finally led me out of my addiction.
It was as if Mary reached up from the pages and grabbed me by the collar. I felt her say to me sternly, “Brian you’ve got to stop looking at that garbage. Starting now!”

My earthly mother hardly ever scolded me when I was younger. I was always the “good son.” But here I was at age 30 getting chastised by my Blessed Mother in a way I had never experienced.
“What do you want me to do?” I asked helplessly. I turned the page.
Pray the Rosary and wear the Scapular.
I groaned. “Rosary? I’ve tried that before. It’s boring. It doesn’t work for me.”
But Mary wouldn’t take no. “Try it again,” she insisted.
What about this scapular thing? I had no idea what a scapular was.
I thought it had something to do with shaving your head like the monks of the Middle Ages. (I had confused the “scap” in scapular for “scalp”, as in head.) “I’m not shaving my head Mary.” I read on and embarrassingly realized my mistake. “Oh. OK. I can wear that.”

That night I went online and ordered a Brown Scapular, and then I went to my bedroom dresser and pulled out my grandmom’s old rosary. It had been in there for years, nothing more than an heirloom.
I got on my knees, and I began to pray.
The next night, I did it again. Two nights in a row became three, then four, until before I knew it I had prayed the Rosary every night for a week.
Well it’s been 7 years, and I’m still going strong. I can count on two hands the total number of times I’ve missed.

OK so I pray the Rosary and I kicked a nasty porn habit.
Ho hum. Big deal you think.
Yes it is, because I should explain that when I say the addiction went away, I don’t mean gradually. I mean it vanished that first night.
It was like someone reached inside my brain, found the switch for porn addiction, and turned it off. I can’t explain it. I’m not a sex therapist, but I know that’s not supposed to happen. You don’t just put down a 19-year porn addiction like yesterday’s newspaper and walk away from it.

A lot of it has to do with a hormone called epinephrine that’s released in the brain each time you view pornography. It produces a high similar to cocaine.
Epinephrine is the gift that keeps on giving because it has a nasty side effect of burning the images into your brain. That’s why even when I was in my late twenties I could still see those images from when I was eleven as if it were yesterday. And now they’re gone.

That brings me back to why I pray the Rosary daily, and why I think everyone should too. It’s because of who made the request.
Mary is our Blessed Mother, and she’s asked us to do this. If she wants us to pray the Rosary, it doesn’t matter if we don’t “get” anything out of it, and it doesn’t matter if we don’t understand how it “works”.
The only thing that matters is that Mary is the one who asked.
She says she needs our help, and the way we can help her is to pray Rosaries.
Let her worry about the mechanics.
Did the servants at the wedding at Cana need to understand how Jesus was going to solve the wine shortage? No, they just needed to follow Mary’s advice.
I hope Mary doesn’t mind if I borrow her line and say when it comes to praying the Rosary, “Do whatever she tells you.”

The Passion - Lessons from the Life of Christ

A great coffee table book I bought, that you can read, meditate on, pray or just look at.
Illustrations taken from Mel Gibson's movie, The Passion.
I highly recommend it.

"Complemented by quotes from the Scriptures, beautiful illustrations, a series of probing interviews with the movies main players and behind the scenes images, the book explores themes from the story of Jesus that are of as much relevance today as they were twenty centuries ago. Love, joy, peace, faith, forgiveness and much more. Beautifully designed and reproduced, this is an encounter with the story of Christ that will move you, intrigue you and leave you wanting to find out more."

To find out more go to Ken Duncan Gallery Shop.

Thank you for your Prayers

I would like to thank those who prayed for my friend undergoing brain surgery and his recovery.
He is still in Intensive Care, but hopefully will be going to the ward soon.
After several operations of relieving the pressure on his brain, he is now breathing on his own and communicating.
It is hard to know at this stage if there are no side affects & he will probably have a long time in Rehab.
Thank you again for those who prayed, much appreciated.

Message from Purgatory

A post from In God's Company 2

Holy souls in Purgatory, is there anything you regret when you think of your life on earth? I deeply regret wasted time.... I did not consider it so precious, so fleeting, so irretrievable. For this reason my life is worth only half of what it might have been. Oh, had I but realized it then! Would that I could return to earth, how differently I would use the time given to me! Precious time! . . .

Today I know how to appreciate you. You were purchased with the blood of Christ; you were given me for the sole purpose of loving God, sanctifying myself and edifying my neighbor. But alas! I have abused you by committing sin; I have craved vanity, pleasures and trifles; I have been dreaming dreams which now cause me bitter reproaches and remorse. Precious time . . . Wasted time . . . How heavily you weigh upon me now! How it grieves me to have lost you through my own fault! Fleeting time . . . . Time which passes so quickly on earth, but which drags so slowly in this prison of fire, in this place of excruciating torments!

Formerly, years seamed like days to me. My whole life vanished like a dream. Hours now seem like years, days like centuries. I must now suffer, weep, and wait until the last minute of wasted time is redeemed. Oh, how long shall my exile last! Irretrievable time! On earth I relied on my last years to do penance; but the thread of my life was severed as a moment when I expected least! Oh precious time! You were given me to acquire treasures and graces without number, but now you are lost for me forever.

You, who still live on earth, do not waste the gift of time, which has cost Jesus such a high price, and for which you too will have to suffer in Purgatory if you imitate our carelessness. You, who are privileged to live during a time which is preeminently devoted to the Sacred Heart, during these last centuries when He has revealed to the world His love in its fullness: intercede for us that we may obtain the merits of at least one of these days, in which His grace is so freely and abundantly offered you.

**This letter I believe was written by Saint Margret from a conversation she had with the Poor Souls in Purgatory, but the page I have has no name upon it. - Spiritdaily

Motherhood

Well, as you all could guess (whether you are mothers or not), Motherhood is not easy!

However, it is THE most beautiful challenge I have ever experienced.
My children bring a smile to my face every single day.

I always (ever since I was a child) longed to be a mother.
Maybe it wasn’t overly important when I was a child, but I never remember NOT wanting to be a mum.

Before I became a mother (for instance, when I was engaged and ‘thinking’ about it more often), I thought I had motherhood and how I would bring my children up, all in my head, perfectly planned out.
Haha, how immature was I? What was I thinking?!

It was like I had my 10 commandments made up for my children in my head:

1) You will obey immediately
2) You will never back chat
3) You will eat EVERYTHING that is dished up to you
4) You will not ‘NO’ your mother or your father
5) You will not poke your tongue out
6) You will not get out of bed when it’s bedtime
7) You will NEVER bite another human being
8) You will not choose what you wear
9) No means NO!
10) If you break any of these rules, you will either be talked to or you will get some kind of punishment!

How easy the rules seemed.

However, I quickly learned, that no matter how much you would like your children to be robots that follow rules, it’s not that easy to get your children to follow these rules.

Just as it is hard for us, to follow God’s 10 commandments.

Please pray

Please pray for a good family friend of mine.
He has just had a growth on his brain removed & came out of the operation okay.
But has gone downhill from swelling on the brain.
Please pray for him and his family.