A new study from probably the most respected university in the US has shown a link between exposure to common pesticides and health problems in children.
A new study out of Harvard shows that even tiny, allowable amounts of a common pesticide class can have dramatic effects on brain chemistry, reports the Associated Press. Organophosphates (OP’s) are among the most widely used pesticides in the U.S. They work by interfering with brain signaling in insects. OPs have long been understood to be particularly toxic for children, but this is the first study to examine their effects across a representative population with average levels of exposure.
What is even more alarming is the suggested link between OPs and Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD.) The research showed that
94% of children tested in the study showed detectable levels of OP pesticide metabolites in their urine. Of these, children with the highest levels were nearly twice as likely to have Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
For many years agrochemical companies, supported by governments around the world, have vigorously denied that exposure to chemicals at residue levels has any affect on health. Previous studies in the US that linked residue levels of two common pesticides to Parkinsons like problems in lab rats was roundly condemned.
It really is about time that the use of pesticides was vastly reduced with a view to completely phasing them out.
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