Farmworker Kids and Pesticides

Latino farmworker children ages 1 to 6 in North Carolina were found to have, on average, four pesticide metabolites in their urine, according to a just-published study in Environmental Health Perspectives.

Almost 90 percent of the 60 children had three or more pesticide metabolites in their urine, one-third had five or more, and only one child had none.

Metabolites of the highly toxic organophosphate (OP) parathion were found in 90 percent of the children, and chlorpyrifos was found in 83.3 percent. About 2.5 OPs were found, on average, in each child's urine, indicative of active exposures to each of these pesticides within the last few days, and evidence of the need for cumulative risk assessments of the OPs taking into account all active ingredients in the class and all routes of exposure.

The ubiquitous exposure of farmworker children in North Carolina to highly toxic OPs documented in this study occurred in the summer of 2004, two or more years after the regulatory actions taken by the Environmental Protection Agency against parathion and chlorpyrifos under the Food Quality Protection Act. Clearly, use of these OPs remains widespread and continues to expose children to heightened risk of developmental abnormalities, especially those impacting the brain and central nervous system.

read more....(Environmental Health Perspectives)

Linkage Established Between Pesticides and Autism

For years epidemiologists have seen hints of a link between pesticide exposure and autism. As of July 30, 2007, these days are over. Scientists working for the California Department of Health Services have found that pregnant women living near fields sprayed with the common insecticides dicofol and endosulfan were six-times more likely to give birth to children with "Autism Spectrum Disorders" (ASD) than women living many miles from treated fields.

Six-times higher risk - it is very rare for such a large and statistically significant difference to be found in a study of this kind. Plus, the authors report that the closer a mother lived to treated fields, and/or the more pounds of pesticides applied, the greater the risk.

These two insecticides are the last widely used organochlorines - the family of insecticides including DDT, chlordane, aldrin, and toxaphene, among others. Both are known endocrine disruptors, they are persistent in the environment, and bioaccumulate up food chains. Residues of these insecticides, in particular endosulfan, are common in conventional fruits and vegetables, especially imports. This study should compel the EPA to finally take decisive action to end exposures to these two insecticides.

Read the study (Environmental Health Perspectives)

US Court to Hear Pesticide Lawsuit

Noaki Schwartz, Associated Press, July 8, 2007

The pesticide was designed to kill worms infesting the roots of banana trees on Latin American plantations.

But at least 5,000 agricultural workers from Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama have filed five lawsuits in this country claiming they were left sterile after being exposed in the 1970s to the pesticide known as DBCP.

"This is the first time any case for a banana worker has come before a U.S. court," said Duane Miller, one of the attorneys representing more than 30 Nicaraguan plaintiffs who worked on plantations from 1964 to 1990.

Read more (Business Week)

Scientists Estimate That Pesticides are Reducing Crop Yields by ONE-THIRD

The National Academy of Sciences dropped a bombshell on the agri-toxics lobby in June when it published a study indicating that pesticides are actually decreasing crop yields by one-third. Specifically, pesticides are killing important bacteria in the soil that naturally produce a useable form of nitrogen for plants, a necessary fertilizer. As the use of chemical pesticides has increased in the U.S., soil bacteria have been dramatically reduced, thereby creating an insatiable demand for petroleum-based fertilizers. In contrast, organic farming promotes a healthy living soil with increased crop yields.

read more...(The Organic Center)

Heavy pesticide exposure linked to brain cancer

Agricultural workers with extensive exposure to pesticides may have an elevated risk of brain cancer, new research suggests.

In a study of nearly 700 adults with or without brain tumors, French researchers found that agricultural workers with the highest level of exposure to pesticides were twice as likely to be diagnosed with brain cancer as those with no occupational pesticide exposure.

There was also evidence that people who treated their house plants with pesticides had an elevated brain cancer risk.

Past studies have linked pesticide exposure among farmers to adverse effects on the brain, such as a higher risk of Parkinson's disease.

Read more (Reuters)

Chemicals linked to autism, ADHD and brain disorders in children

A study published in a leading medical journal has identified 202 potentially harmful industrial chemicals that may be contributing to increases of autism, attention deficit disorder and other mental development conditions among children.

The study, published online in the journal The Lancet, warns of the potential "silent pandemic" that may be a result of the exposure to an array of toxic chemicals in the environment.

Lead author of the study, Philippe Grandjean, of the Harvard School of Public Health, warned that there would be an enormous cost to society if childhood exposure to the many developmental disrupting chemicals was not regulated.

Grandjean warned that once the damage had been done to children's developing brains, which were much more susceptible to the effects of small doses of chemicals, it was irreversible.

read more....(Green Clippings)