Pesticide Exposure Linked to Low IQ

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It has been revealed that children exposed to pesticides which are commonly used on food crops score as much as seven points lower on standardized intelligence tests by the time they reach the age of 7. Every tenfold increase in organophosphates detected during a mother’s pregnancy relates to a 5.5 point drop in overall IQ test scores.

A professor at the University of California, Brenda Eskenazi says “These associations are substantial, especially when viewing this at a population-wide level,”

“That difference could mean, on average, more kids being shifted into the lower end of the spectrum of learning, and more kids needing special services in school.”

While markers of prenatal OP pesticide exposure significantly correlated with childhood IQ test results, exposure to pesticides after birth didn’t have an effect on IQ scores, suggesting that exposure during fetal brain development is more critical than childhood exposure.

The study is one of three papers showing an association between pesticide exposure and childhood IQ test scores published online in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

The other two studies examined urban populations in New York City. The UC Berkeley study focused on children living in Salinas, an agricultural center in Monterey County, California.

“It is very unusual to see this much consistency across populations in studies, so that speaks to the significance of the findings,” says Maryse Bouchard, who was a post-doctoral researcher with Eskenazi while the study was under way.

“The children are now at a stage where they are going to school, so it’s easier to get good, valid assessments of cognitive function.”

The 329 children in the study have been followed from before birth as part of the Center for the Health Assessment of Mothers and Children of Salinas (CHAMACOS), an ongoing longitudinal study. The new findings come less than a year after another study found an association between prenatal pesticide exposure and attention problems in children at age 5.

The indoor use of two common organophosphates (OP) pesticides has been phased out over the past decade, primarily because of health risks to children.

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