Learning Hazards

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Avoiding Exposures: Pesticide Exposures
U.S. gardens and lawns consume up to 10 times per acre the amount of pesticides farmers put on their crops, exposing children at play and in the house as pesticides are tracked in from the air. Exposing mouse embryos to lawn-care pesticides (chlorpyrifos and 10 others) at levels equivalent to low human exposures increased the risk of the embryo dying or growing improperly, according to a study in the May 2004 Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP). In May 2005, EHP reported that low-level exposures to chlorpyrifos in neonatal male rats harmed learning and memory. And pyrethroids, common in pesticides, also pose developmental threats.

Children from agricultural communities are most at risk, since they show higher pesticide levels than non-farm children and poorer performance in measurements of coordination and decision-making. A 1998 landmark study of two Yaqui communities in Mexico compared four- and five-year-old pesticide-exposed children with those from a community that did not use pesticides. Elizabeth Guillette, Ph.D., at the Department of Anthropology at the University of Florida, found that when asked to draw a person, the exposed children drew circles or lines and several couldn't draw figures that resembled people. On her return two years later, Guillette found that the exposed children "showed poor eye-hand coordination, very poor energy levels and slow recovery [after exertion]."

Mercury
Mercury in the diet reduces intelligence in up to 637,233 children born each year, according to a study in the May 2005 EHP. But by not eating high-mercury fish such as tuna and swordfish, pregnant mothers and children can avoid the greatest source of exposure (see below).

Lead
Lead, exposures to which lower IQ and cause behavioral problems, has no safe blood level. Yet the EPA has delayed regulations requiring lead-safety certification for contractors remodeling pre-1978 homes. If not properly handled, lead can spread in air and dust (see "Testing for Lead in Peeling Paint," p. 11). Herbert Needleman, M.D., a lead researcher at the University of Pittsburgh, recommends checking levels in your child's blood at the ages of one and two.

Phthalates
A 2003 study of 120 Cape Cod-area homes found greater concentrations of phthalates than any other chemical in household dust and air. Europe has banned DBP and di(2ethylhexyl) phthalate, resulting in some cosmetic companies removing them from their U.S. products too. Says Michele Hammond, "Mikaela does love nail polish, so I'm getting her phthalate-free products like Revlon and l'Oréal."