Pregnant Women Consuming Chicken Wings May Have Sons with Shorter Genitals: PETA

Eating chicken wings during pregnancy decreases size of penises in baby boys, warns People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

The warning came in the wake of the National Buffalo Wing Festival held this weekend. The organization working for protection of animal rights said a chemical found in chicken flesh can lead to the condition. "Pregnant women may want to think twice before chomping on those chicken wings, or their sons could come up short," PETA Associate Director of Campaigns Lindsay Rajt said in a statement.

"Chickens may be little animals, but they suffer in a big way before their wings are hacked off for a stupid contest," Rajt added.

According to a previous research, the chemical phthalates were found to under-develop genitalia in rats. "These changes in male infants, associated with prenatal exposure to some of the same phthalate metabolites that cause similar alterations in male rodents, suggest that commonly used phthalates may undervirilize humans as well," researchers wrote in the study.

PETA also claimed that chicken wings could raise the risk of pregnant women delivering babies with blocked arteries.

"Eating cholesterol-laden chicken flesh during pregnancy may also increase unborn babies' risk of being born with blocked arteries, which can lead to strokes and heart attacks later in life," Rajt said.

But, people seemed to ignore PETA's warning and listened to their doctors' advice. "If my doctor says I need to watch my eating then I'll listen to the doctor. I'm not going to listen to PETA who claims it has defects," Buffalo resident Krystle Socha told Your News Now.