When you are pregnant there are so many things to worry about. Well, darlings I have a new thing for you to worry about: chicken wings. Yes, I said, chicken wings. PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) sent organizers of the National Buffalo Wing Festival, which will be held this Labor Day weekend in Buffalo, New York, a letter urging them to ban pregnant women from their wing eating contest because "consuming poultry while pregnant may lead to birth defects in utero, including smaller-than-average penises for newborn boys. I think we can agree that embarrassment and insecurity are no small matters." Hahaha, I appreciate a good pun so I have to laugh at the "small matters" part. Could this possibly be true? Do chicken wings consumed during pregnancy lead to smaller penises?
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PETA references the Study for Future Families, which found that phthalates, which can be found in chicken may decrease genital size. Phthalates are not just present in poultry, they are found in all sorts of consumer products like pesticides and plastic. Food can get contaminated with them during the production process.
Here's the thing, I had no idea so many pregnant women were entering the wing-eating contest at the National Buffalo Wing Festival. Surely, that's not true. Are any pregnant women even entering?
I have no doubt that phthalates are not good for me, you, pregnant women, or their unborn children, but I think PETA's warning is a reach and has more to do with what is written later in the chicken-wing-warning letter, "Even the cruelest of bedroom ridicule pales in comparison to the suffering that smart, sensitive chickens endure for the wings so casually consumed in contests such as these."
I'll tell you what, I ate chicken wings while I was pregnant, I guess I'm lucky that I had girls because no one seems to worry about having a small vagina the way that people worry about having a small penis.
I think PETA's letter was pretty silly, but I don't think that treating animals ethically is a silly thing at all and I don't think that worrying about how our food is contaminated with chemicals is silly either, so I hope that those messages don't get lost in the silliness.
Image via Thinkstock
