Give Short Kids a Chance, Not a Hormone

We are short and we like it. We think shorter is better. We’ll explain that in a minute, but first, we must explain why we are so in your face about it today.

It’s the experiment approved this week by the National Institutes of Health to test genetically engineered human growth hormone on normally short children.

HGH is a manufactured hormone designed to stimulate growth in kids deficient in the natural hormone. Now 7,500 normal short children are getting HGH injections.

What has the world come to? Drug companies are trying to make a buck convincing short kids they need medical help. Shame on them.

We were short children. We were the first in line. We stood in the front row for class pictures. We came out just fine because we were not made to feel abnormal, or, as the growth docs say, diseased.

Tell that to short kids of the 1990s whose parents are having them injected with hormones in the hope of giving them a few extra inches. Big deal.

What normal parents would allow their normally short children to go through such an esteem-damaging and potentially dangerous process? Shame on them.

Since we’re drawn into this “disease” language, let’s talk about dealing with the cause instead of the symptoms. The cause is a society that values tallness. The growth docs agree. But instead of challenging such notions, they’re trying to subject tallness on perfectly short kids. Some say HGH is no more harmful than breast implants. Not!

Don’t like your weight? Liposuck it off. Don’t like your age lines? Snip ‘em away. Don’t like your color? Bleach, tan or dye your skin. Eyelids? There’s surgery for those, too. Nature be damned.

But back to shortness. We founded the National Assn. of Short Adults in 1988 when it was the shrimp vs. the wimp presidential race. You remember Michael Dukakis--certainly no taller than 5’ 8”, and what a price he paid for that. For the record, George Bush is 6’ 2”. The taller candidate almost always wins. But where have all those tall presidents gotten us?

We wanted a President we could see almost eye to eye. A President who didn’t take up too much space. Emboldened, we went on to call for furniture, clothes and cars that would fit us and be more ecological, to boot. We hit a nerve, hearing from people worldwide who felt just fine about being short and from people who were sick and tired of being “belittled.” And now here comes hi-tech medicine trying to hawk height.

So we’re here to tell parents of short children not to be seduced by the growth docs. Did you know that some of the world’s most accomplished people have been of short stature?

Labor Secretary Robert Reich is 4’ 10”; Sen. Barbara Boxer is 4’ 11”; Queen Elizabeth is said to be 5’ 3”. There are even short professional basketball players--Muggsy Bogues and Spud Webb, to name two.

They didn’t need HGH, we didn’t need it and neither do today’s short children.