Htin - Week 5 : Erdafitinib
Height. Arguably one of the most effective social status boosters. If you walk down the street right this moment, who do you notice walking alongside you: the 6’7 Marlon incarnation or the average Jimothy standing at 5’8? (rhetorical question btw, but you can answer if you’d like to).
Some might argue while tackling how “height isn’t everything” and that only “personality matters.” But I guarantee you if Genie himself awakened from that one poor, overworked kettle in your kitchen, and said, “I can only add inches to your height”(which is lame and tragic), all of you reading this blog will answer with a big fat YES while grinning ear to ear, because who WOULDN’T want to grow taller.
We’ve had our parents tell us to “drink more milk,” and we've seen annoying ads interrupting our favourite TV shows, promising that their vitamins will grow kids vertically. (side note: the kids actually grew perpendicular to the direction the ads promised). This evidently already tells us that society has pushed this idea of “taller equals better” onto us from a young age. I’ve seen classmates getting made fun of for their height back in elementary school, which continued as a recurring theme throughout middle school as well.
Coming from an Asian background, raised in an Asian country, I can confidently say that a lot of us Asians are average-height kids. My childhood friends and I looked up to taller people, especially from the Western world, like the United States. Perfect English, perfect social status, perfect smile, and perfect food. Looking back, the insecurities that this “admiration” caused me to have were, plenty.
For the past month, I’ve been reading about this thing on Substack and in research papers: Erdafitinib (Erda for short). It’s a medicinal drug meant for bladder cancer treatment and tumors. But one interesting effect of this drug is that it does something called competitive inhibition to an enzyme called Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor 3 (FGFR3). I’ll skip the complex organic chemistry and all the protein-coding stuff (the cool stuff, which I encourage you to read into) and encapsulate the whole picture for you. This drug basically stops your “anti-growth” mechanism temporarily, allowing abnormal growth to occur, pushing your growth plates to the max. Basically Genie…right?
NO. It raises your phosphate levels, rear-ends your retinols to the point where you can become partially blind, causes dryness everywhere, gives you every stomach problem imaginable, and overall fatigues your entire body over the course of your cycle on the drug. Yet, I’ve seen the willingness and determination from the desperate. Young adults and minors illegally getting their hands on Erda for one sole purpose: getting taller.
With America’s role in international trends due to Hollywood’s grasp and American media being one of the most consumed, a lot of kids across the world wish to fit this perfect mold of a Western life. Height is one of the most sought-after factors in terms of social status. It’s depressing and truly sad to see young people chase after such a trivial matter, blinded by the system, failed by the system, and falling into their own demise. Mind you, the drug won’t even do anything to your height if your growth plates are already maxed out, but you STILL go through the same side effects.
Truly a shame, if you ask me.
So let me end with this: would YOU take this "height pill"?
High IQ post
ReplyDeleteHey Htin, as a 5 foot 8, average Asian joe, I understand your point. There is such a toxic culture around height everywhere around the world. I have a friend who was actually considering buying and taking Erda. When he told me about the side effects, I thought he was jokingly being foolish. I really didn’t understand why anyone would care about an extra 1 or 2 inches when they could possibly go blind or have even worse side effects. The risk just does not seem logically worth it. However, like you said, so many kids are willing to illegally take the drug. This just shows how bad this height culture has become and I feel like it will only grow. I also agree that social media and digital media have been a major player in perpetuating this toxic culture. Unfortunately, there isn’t much that we can do about this. The system will keep pushing this because it generates profit. Anyways, I’m really excited to read your next post. Connecting Erda and height culture is really interesting!
ReplyDeleteHi Htin! Your topic was super unique and interesting, and I think you covered it pretty well. Your sense of humor throughout the post made it all the more fun to read!
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I have to say that I’ve never really gotten the obsession with height. I get that it comes from wanting to be like athletes and Western media (like you said). But standing at 5’4” on a good day, 5’8” is pretty tall! I’ve never understood how that’s been seen as below average. Being 6’7” is entirely too tall, in my opinion.
I had no idea that it was possible to grow taller once you stopped growing, so it was interesting to learn that a side effect from a cancer treatment was just that. I do have one question though: once you stop taking Erda, do you shrink?
I have to say that I would not take Erda. The side effects, as you mentioned, sound absolutely horrendous. I can’t believe that people will risk near blindness just for a couple more inches of height. But I do agree with your point that height is constantly pushed on us, whether it be through the media or sports or our friends and family. Overall, your blog was really interesting and thought-provoking!
Greetings Htin! Once again, I am appalled by your cunning ability to incorporate scientific research into your blogs. I myself am approximately 6 feet tall (5’6, but we can round up). For as long as I can remember, individuals in my family have been pressuring me to drink more and more milk, and clearly, that did not help. I believe genetics is the main factor in the height of an individual. I really enjoyed how you took an insecurity of millions of individuals across the globe and connected it to the much greater societal issue. I never knew substances like Eratfitnib could have such great side effects when misused for something like height growth. It makes me wonder about the side effects of other advertised medications like Ozempic, which are also used ot combat insecurities. To answer your question, I would have taken this pill if I were offered it back in 8th grade, as back then I was much more insecure about my height than I am now. Now, however, I would humbly decline the offer to take this medication. Wonderful blog. I hope to read more from you in the future.
ReplyDelete