Doctors treating an otherwise healthy Indian farmer, who was recently admitted to a hospital near Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, in India, were shocked to discover that the man, identified as "Ryalu," had a lot more than simple digestive problems in his pain-stricken abdomen.
Ryalu's stomach pain was the result of a full set of female organs developing inside his gut, complete with uterus, ovaries, Fallopian tubes, a cervix, and even partially-developed vaginal tissue.
According to Dr. Pramod Kumar Shrivastava, a surgeon at the hospital where Ryalu was admitted, the man appeared healthy, had fully-functional male sex organs, and was physically fit from working regularly in his fields. But upon closer inspection, the hernial sac discovered inside his body contained something entirely different and unexpected.
"Usually the contents of the Hernia Sac are abdomen organs like large intestines and small intestines. But when we operated on the patient, we were surprised to find female reproductive organs," said Dr. Shrivastava. "We have removed the organs through a hysterectomy and repaired the hernia."
Dr. Shrivastava added that while medically Ryalu is a hermaphrodite, his hormones and sexuality are obviously male. And oddly enough, Ryalu had not experienced any other serious health problems prior to his recent hospital admittance, which is strikingly unusual considering the extent to which the man's female sex organs had developed.
"The external reproductive organs of the patient were masculine and he has no problems whatsoever with his sexuality," added Dr. Shrivastava. "He had functional male genitals and there was no formation of breasts in the patient. It's an embryological accident at the time of embryonic formation."
One of the known contributors to, and causes of, such intersexual development is exposure to environmental toxins like pesticides and herbicides, both of which have been widely adopted by Indian farmers as part of Monsanto's genetically-modified (GM) crop systems (link...). Conventional weed killing chemicals are also linked to sexual development problems, as was seen in a 2010 study where frogs developed ambiguous sex organs (link...).
Ryalu's stomach pain was the result of a full set of female organs developing inside his gut, complete with uterus, ovaries, Fallopian tubes, a cervix, and even partially-developed vaginal tissue.
According to Dr. Pramod Kumar Shrivastava, a surgeon at the hospital where Ryalu was admitted, the man appeared healthy, had fully-functional male sex organs, and was physically fit from working regularly in his fields. But upon closer inspection, the hernial sac discovered inside his body contained something entirely different and unexpected.
"Usually the contents of the Hernia Sac are abdomen organs like large intestines and small intestines. But when we operated on the patient, we were surprised to find female reproductive organs," said Dr. Shrivastava. "We have removed the organs through a hysterectomy and repaired the hernia."
Dr. Shrivastava added that while medically Ryalu is a hermaphrodite, his hormones and sexuality are obviously male. And oddly enough, Ryalu had not experienced any other serious health problems prior to his recent hospital admittance, which is strikingly unusual considering the extent to which the man's female sex organs had developed.
"The external reproductive organs of the patient were masculine and he has no problems whatsoever with his sexuality," added Dr. Shrivastava. "He had functional male genitals and there was no formation of breasts in the patient. It's an embryological accident at the time of embryonic formation."
One of the known contributors to, and causes of, such intersexual development is exposure to environmental toxins like pesticides and herbicides, both of which have been widely adopted by Indian farmers as part of Monsanto's genetically-modified (GM) crop systems (link...). Conventional weed killing chemicals are also linked to sexual development problems, as was seen in a 2010 study where frogs developed ambiguous sex organs (link...).
