A U.S. study on health facts found a link between children’s Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and common inorganic bug sprays used on vegetables and fruits.
The report does not reveal the extent on how these inorganic bug sprays play a role in children’s study habits; although specialists claim that the study was very hopeful.
“I would take it quite seriously,” says Virginia Rauh of Columbia University. Rauh has already done a study on prenatal contact with pesticides but she is not associated with this new analysis.
“More study will have to be done to confirm the link between the two”, she said.
Children are more at risk to the health conditions associated with these commercial pesticides since they’ve got smaller bodies and may consume a lot more pesticide residue as compared to grownups that have a bigger body mass.
When ingested, these pesticides break down into smaller compounds that could be easily detected in urine. A urine test on kids showed an alarming result. 94% of the children tested positive for these compounds.
The kids with higher quantities of the pesticide compounds had a higher probability of having ADHD. ADHD is a usual issue that leads to students having problems in school. These findings were released last Monday in Pediatrics.
The kids probably ate food that was treated with these commercial pesticides. It is also possible that they could have gotten it from the air or through their drinking water. The research did not clarify how these children were exposed to the pesticides. The experts believe that children who don’t live near farms are contaminated through the food they eat.
“Exposure is everywhere. All of us are exposed,” says head author Maryse Bouchard of the University of Montreal.
Bouchard says that people today can limit the dangers of exposure by eating organic produce. A recent government study found out that frozen fruits, frozen veggies, strawberries and celery actually have more pesticide residue compared to other food items.
A 2008 Emory University study found that children who switched to organically grown fruit and veggies had a drop in their levels of urine pesticide compounds.
Now that we know of the dangers of inorganic pesticides, the United States Environmental Protection Agency should agree on just how much residue could safely remain on our food. Unfortunately, latest studies show that it is possible that even tiny quantities of inorganic pesticide may affect one’s brain chemistry.
However, the actual reasons linked to children’s ADHD are still in question. Any specific quantity of the compounds may have prompted the symptoms. The relationship of ADHD with pesticide sprays could be nothing but chance.
The new information is dependent upon the one-time urine samples taken from 1,139 kids and interviews with their parents to find out which of the children had Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. These children, ages 8 to 15, took part in a federal health market research from 2000-2004.
As claimed by their parents, about 150 children in the research program had the typical characteristics of those with ADHD. These symptoms include the shortness of attention span, hyperactivity and impulsiveness. Some children were even taking medicines to heal it.
The study worked with one kind of pesticide named organophosphates. The study showed that 20% of the children with high levels of the pesticide compound had Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. In children with no detected quantities in their urine, only 10% had ADHD.
“This is a very well executed study,” said Dr. Lynn Goldman of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a former EPA administrator.
One urine sample for every child, instead of multiple samples over time, was not needed, Goldman said.
“The study provides more evidence that the government should really encourage farmers to switch to organic pesticides and natural pest control products”, said Margaret Reeves, the senior scientist with the Pesticide Action Network. The group has been advocating to stop the use of several pesticides for years.
“We should not let this kind of exposure go on,” Reeves concluded.
