Pesticide exposure in expectant mothers causes lower IQ in newborns

September 19, 2011

NaturalNews.com
September 19, 2011

Three separate studies recently published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives indicate prenatal pesticide exposure to fetuses negatively impact a child’s learning ability. Their IQs tend to be lower. The greater the umbilical cord pesticide blood levels, the lower the child’s IQ.

Research Focus

These toxins originated mostly from conventional agriculture’s heavily sprayed foods. But farmers and farm workers were studied the least.

The three studies focused mostly on urban dwellers who consume those sprayed foods. One was done in UC Berkley, CA, another by Columbia University in NYC, and the other by Mt. Sinai Hospital researchers, also in NYC. It doesn’t get much more urban than that.

What’s Bad About Pesticides

Most effective pesticides contain different types oforganophosphates. As of the turn of our current century, many nations had bannedchlorpyrifos and diazinon, from domestic use. Those two pesticides were so heavily loaded with organophosphates that just having bug and ant poisons stored in one’s domicile caused health problems to occupants.

Organophosphates (OPs) are spinoffs from biochemical warfare research to create nerve gases for killing humans. Scientists soon discovered that the OPs killed bugs too. Of course, the usual toxicology index that protects the industry is based on the notion that if you don’t drop dead soon after exposure to any chemical agent, it’s safe!

But eventually, long term neurological deterioration was detected among OP users,even if they hardly used them. The link was made to these organophosphate nerve gas components in chlorpyrifos and diazinon. They were disallowed for home use, but not for agricultural use.

Back on the Farm

Since workers on farms using these pesticides are often subject to skin exposure and inhalation of organophophates, the CDC issued a paper categorizing symptoms of poisoning from biochemical nerve agents and pesticide toxicity. The symptoms described were the same for both. (CDC source below)

If you’re having thoughts about Monsanto’s Roundup, it is actually an herbicide for killing weeds. Roundup kills all plants. That’s why Roundup Ready GM seeds are necessary. They enable using the herbicide while the GMO seed plants supposedly thrive.

Roundup’s active ingredient is glyophosate, which is a type of organophosphate that isn’t as nasty to the nervous system as other organophosphates. Over 30 organophosphate pesticides used in non-organic commercial farming are USDA approved.

So what if we eat daily while other environmental toxins overload our immune systems. Remember, if it doesn’t do great harm immediately, it’s safe.

If you have to go with conventionally grown produce occasionally, find out the most and least sprayed from the Environmental Working Group’s dirty dozen and clean fifteen list here:http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/summary/

Sources for more information include:

Three new studies reveal children are dumbed down by pesticide exposure in wombhttp://www.naturalnews.com/032158_p…
Guide to pesticides in producehttp://www.naturalnews.com/033163_p…

CDC nerve toxin paperhttp://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/nerve/t…

Explaining organophosphateshttp://www.panna.org/resources/spec…

Explaining Glycophosate in Rounduphttp://archive.greenpeace.org/genen…

Main stream media article reporting the three pesticide studieshttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/a…

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Agricultural pesticides disrupt male hormones

February 15, 2011 1 Comment

Scientific American

Many agricultural pesticides – including some previously untested and commonly found in food  – disrupt male hormones, according to new tests conducted by British scientists.

The scientists strongly recommended that all pesticides in use today be screened to check if they block testosterone and other androgens, the hormones critical to a healthy reproductive system for men and boys.

“Our results indicate that systematic testing for anti-androgenic activity of currently used pesticides is urgently required,” wrote the scientists from University of London’s Centre for Toxicology, led by Professor Andreas Kortenkamp.

Thirty out of 37 widely used pesticides tested by the group blocked or mimicked male hormones. Sixteen of the 30 had no known hormonal activity until now, while there was some previous evidence for the other 14, according to the study, published online last Thursday in the scientific journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

Most of the newly discovered hormone disruptors are fungicides applied to fruit and vegetable crops, including strawberries and lettuce. Traces of the chemicals remain in foods.

“This study indicates that, not surprisingly, there are many other endocrine disruptors that we have not yet identified or know very little about,” said Emily Barrett, a University of Rochester assistant professor in obstetrics and gynecology who was not involved in the study.

“This underlines the glaring problem that many of the chemicals that are most widely used today, including pesticides, are simply not adequately tested and may have serious long-term impacts on health and development,” said Barrett, who studies how environmental chemicals affect human reproduction.

The findings come as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency faces opposition from the pesticide industry after expanding its Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program, which requires testing of about 200 chemicals found in food and drinking water to see if they interfere with estrogen, androgens or thyroid hormones.

None of the 16 pesticides with the newly discovered hormonal activity is included in the EPA’s program, which means they are not currently screened and there are no plans to do so.

The EPA’s program has been slow to implement, largely due to a controversy over testing methods. Environmental groups criticize the EPA, which was granted the authority by Congress in 1996, for taking so long to order manufacturers to test only a small group of chemicals. But chemical industry officials say that the tests cost up to $1 million per chemical and the techniques have not been fully validated. They also stress that positive results don’t necessarily mean that the pesticides are harming human reproduction.

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