Science

Study finds pesticides in children

Feb

6

Mercer Island children were tested for pesticide levels in a yearlong study that found biological markers of organophosphates, (the family of pesticides born from the creation of nerve gas agents in World War II) in children eating conventional produce. As soon as they switched to eating organic foods the pesticide levels in saliva and urine disappeared within 36 hours.

"There's a large underpinning of animal research for organophosphate pesticides, and particularly for chlorpyrifos, that points to bad outcomes in terms of effects on brain development and behavior," Dr. Theodore Slotkin, a professor of pharmacology and cancer biology at Duke University in North Carolina, said in the April 2006 Environmental Health Perspectives.
Chensheng Lu conducted the study and says another one will be done in Georgia. ""It is appropriate to assume that if we -- human beings -- are exposed to (this class of) pesticides, even though it's a low-level exposure on a daily basis, there are going to be some health concerns down the road," said Lu, who is on the Environmental Protection Agency's pesticide advisory panel."


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