Children and a link to: Pesticides By: Emily
Zupon.
“Children are the world's most valuable
resource and its best hope for the future”--
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (35th US President).
In 1996, the Environmental Protection Agency
created the Food Quality Protection Act.
This act set tougher standards to protect
infants
and children from pesticide risks.
There are "critical periods" in human development,
when a human is a child, in which exposure
to a
harmful substance can permanently change the
way a person’s body system operates.
In this short film we will bring to light
information that shows that our children may
be at risk for developmental damage caused
by
pesticide, and suggest one possible source
of pesticide exposure that children may face.
Pesticides are substances designed to kill
a wide array of insects, weeds, and other
household and agricultural pests.
Chlorpyrifos
is one of the most widely used pesticides
in the U.S.
The EPA, Environmental Protection Agency,
estimates that 10 million pounds are
used in agricultural settings every year.
Chlorpyrifos is in the insecticide subclass
of the pesticide family and designed to kill
insects.
A reason researchers and health organizations
study Chlorpyrifos is because they prevent
chemical reactions from happening
in the nervous system for proper functioning;
namely the brain and spinal cord.
The pictured study was done to evaluate brain
growth and development of preschool children
exposed to pesticides in Mexico.
A test
group of children ages 4-5 years old residing
in northwestern Mexico were selected for study
because of similarities in: genetic
backgrounds, diets, water mineral concentrations,
and social behaviors.
The major differences in the two groups evaluated
are: the test group residency being in the
valley OR foothill, exposure to
pesticides in the valley OR non-exposure to
pesticides in the foothill, and eventually
these relationships lead researchers to the
children’s ability to draw humans.
Researchers were able to compare the abilities
between the two test groups of children, pesticide
exposed children in blue on the graph,
to non-pesticide exposed children in red on
the graph.
The groups of children participated in a 30-minute
number memory exercise,
stamina observations made by observing children
jumping in place until shortness of breath,
and a human drawing exercise with a scoring
system that gave points for drawing body parts.
The non-exposed vs. the exposed children’s
ability to draw humans may have been the
most striking difference.
Should we be concerned as to how children
are being exposed to pesticides?
The study featured focused on the diets of
children and
the pesticide residues on the exact foods
they were consuming.
2 groups of 23 children aging 3-11 years old
were recruited for study
from local public elementary schools and Montessori
preschools in Seattle, WA, and then in Atlanta,
GA.
These children were confirmed
to be eating nonorganic diets meaning -- foods
subject to pesticide application.
Exact serving amounts of exact foods were
submitted
to the researchers and sent for testing by
the Food and Drug Administration’s lab.
[NS*] [A*] The most frequently consumed foods
by
both test groups were: apples, orange juice,
blueberries, strawberries, bananas, and watermelon.
Of these foods, high amounts of
pesticides were found in apples, orange juice,
and blueberries.
Above allowable amounts of chlorpyrifos, the
insecticide that does
not allow proper brain or spinal cord functioning
was found in strawberries.
These two studies are related by children
and pesticides exposure, NOT necessarily only
by the specific insecticide chlorpyrifos.
Studies can show relationships between neurological
development in children and pesticides.
Studies can also show that foods
grown with pesticides children commonly eat
contain above safe levels of pesticides.
Ultimately I hope this video showed some effects
of pesticides on children’s neurological
development and highlight that food may be
a source of pesticide contact that our children
may have.
