The World's Tallest Woman has Died

From the AFP:

Sandy Allen, 53, who grew to be more than seven feet, seven inches tall died Wednesday at a nursing home in Shelbyville, Indiana.

A spokeswoman for the Heritage House Convalescent Center in Shelbyville said Allen "had been in failing health in recent years and died of natural causes."

She had been listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's tallest woman.

By the time she was 10, Allen already stood six foot three. By 16, she was over seven feet tall, the Indianapolis Star daily said.

It's believed that a tumor on her pituitary gland caused her abnormal growth.

She'll probably end up being the tallest woman in (recorded) history, because we can now identify and remove the tumors that caused that kind of abnormal growth.  And a good thing, too, because the human body is not designed to work at that size; the leg muscles can't support the weight, the back buckles, the heart gives out.  Most of the people I know who are as tall as me (4σ) already have back and circulatory problems.  Not to mention the difficulty of finding pants with a 27 inch waist and a 35 inch inseam.