Pesticide Use Tied to Lower IQ in Children

Not exactly a surprising revelation, but sad nonetheless. 3 recent studies have followed children through the age of 7 for pesticide exposure.

Children exposed in the womb to substantial levels of neurotoxic pesticides have somewhat lower IQs by the time they enter school than do kids with virtually no exposure. A trio of studies screened women for compounds in blood or urine that mark exposure to organophosphate pesticides such as chlorpyrifos, diazinon and malathion.
These bug killers, which can cross the human placenta, work by inhibiting brain-signaling compounds. Although the pesticides’ residential use was phased out in 2000, spraying on farm fields remains legal.

People don't realize how this stuff spreads and endures within an ecosystem, spreading in wind, water and on food products.

Among the California families, the average IQ for the 20 percent of children with the highest prenatal organophosphate exposure was seven points lower compared with the least-exposed group.

Another observation from her study: Children exhibited bigger IQ deficits if they came from homes that had been treated with organophosphates while their moms were pregnant — even if the women’s urine at the time wasn’t higher in breakdown products than that of parents whose kids had more normal cognitive scores. Organophosphate breakdown products aren’t toxic, just a putative marker of exposure to the toxic parent pesticide, Engel notes. So the presence of organophosphate breakdown products in mothers of the less-affected kids may reflect the mother’s exposure primarily to breakdown products, not the parent organophosphates.

So it seems the mother's genetic pre-disposition is in play here, in that some mother's reaction to organophosphates, as opposed to the phosphates alone, determine how the fetus will fare.

Each IQ-point drop will add up to extra costs in lost earnings over an individual’s lifetime, he says — and even, potentially, to higher education and other costs, to deal with behavioral and learning problems that may occur during childhood.

www.wired.com...
Glad they added this perspective, not only is it tragic for the individuals, but the burdened weight for society is a factor too.
Now let's just see how long it takes for some industry changes. My guess is this will be tied up in appeals court and/or addressed with heavy lobbying. I know I would not like to raise children near any major agricultural plots.
And how about affecting a sociteis future?

“There was an amazing degree of consistency in the findings across all three studies,” notes Bruce Lanphear of Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada. And that’s concerning, he says, because a drop of seven IQ points “is a big deal. In fact, half of seven IQ points would be a big deal, especially when you see this across a population.”

C'mon modern society/corporations, quit putting profits before people!

Peace,
spec

Boy, this will be useful information the next time I pick strawberries while pregnant at a commercial farm without wearing any PPE.

reply to post by SirMike

Um, "sir" is that sarcasm? Yes, a pregnant woman should not expose herself to these chemicals. It would be scary to just live near fields where this stuff is applied also.

spec

reply to post by speculativeoptimist


Equal parts sarcasm and context.

Thanks for the post. Happy Earth Day

Another news report:

Wow, they new of this in 98 and yet continued the process of spraying. Guess because it was Mexico residents we didn't care enough? Check out those drawings at 2:12

spec