![](\"http:\/\/images.sciencedaily.com\/2011\/04\/110421082519.jpg\")
<\/a>\nScienceDaily wrote 22 April 2011,\n<\/a>\nScienceDaily wrote 22 April 2011,\n\nPrenatal Pesticide Exposure Tied to Lower IQ in Children, Study Finds<\/a>\n\nIn a new study suggesting pesticides may be associated with the health\nand development of children, researchers at the University of California,\nBerkeley’s School of Public Health have found that prenatal exposure to\norganophosphate pesticides — widely used on food crops — is related\nto lower intelligence scores at age 7.\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\nThe researchers found that every tenfold increase in measures of\norganophosphates detected during a mother’s pregnancy corresponded to\na 5.5 point drop in overall IQ scores in the 7-year-olds. Children in\nthe study with the highest levels of prenatal pesticide exposure scored\nseven points lower on a standardized measure of intelligence compared\nwith children who had the lowest levels of exposure.\n\n\n
<\/a>\n“These associations are substantial, especially when viewing this at\na population-wide level,” said study principal investigator Brenda\nEskenazi, UC Berkeley professor of epidemiology and of maternal and\nchild health. “That difference could mean, on average, more kids being\nshifted into the lower end of the spectrum of learning, and more kids\nneeding special services in school.”\n<\/blockquote>\nWe had a report yesterday that sounded like spray drift as far as\nthe Valdosta Mall.\nThe article continues to note that you’re not safe from this problem\nif you live in a city, even New York City:\n
\nThe UC Berkeley study is among a trio of papers showing an association\nbetween pesticide exposure and childhood IQ to be published online\nApril 21 in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. Notably,\nthe other two studies — one at Mt. Sinai Medical Center, the other at\nColumbia University — examined urban populations in New York City,\nwhile the UC Berkeley study focused on children living in Salinas,\nan agricultural center in Monterey County, California.\n\nThe studies in New York also examined prenatal exposure to pesticides and\nIQ in children at age 7. Like the UC Berkeley researchers, scientists\nat Mt. Sinai sampled pesticide metabolites in maternal urine, while\nresearchers at Columbia looked at umbilical cord blood levels of a\nspecific pesticide, chlorpyrifos.\n
\n“It is very unusual to see this much consistency across populations in\nstudies, so that speaks to the significance of the findings,” said lead\nauthor Maryse Bouchard, who was working as a UC Berkeley post-doctoral\nresearcher with Eskenazi while this study was underway. “The children\nare now at a stage where they are going to school, so it’s easier to\nget good, valid assessments of cognitive function.”\n<\/blockquote>\nOne of the authors spells this out:\n
\n\n<\/a>\n“These findings are likely applicable to the general population,” said\nBouchard, who is currently a researcher at the University of Montreal’s\nDepartment of Environmental and Occupational Health. “In addition, the\nother two studies being published were done in New York City, so the\nconnection between pesticide exposure and IQ is not limited to people\nliving in an agricultural community.”\n<\/blockquote>\nWe’ve heard from Maryse Bouchard before, last summer,\n\nabout pesticides found in the urine of school children.<\/a>\n
\nThe best known organophosphate pesticide is probably Monsanto’s Roundup,\npopular hereabouts not only on fields but also on people’s yards.\nYou can at least stop doing it to yourself:\n
\n\n<\/a>\n“Many people are also exposed when pesticides are used around homes,\nschools or other buildings,” said study co-author Asa Bradman, associate\ndirector of the Center for Environmental Research in Children’s Health\n(CERCH) at UC Berkeley.\n
\nThe researchers recommended that consumers reduce their home use of\npesticides, noting that most home and garden pests can be controlled\nwithout those chemicals. If pesticides are needed, they said bait stations\nshould be used instead of sprays.\n<\/blockquote>\nIt seems wise not to poison yourself.\n
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