New Studies on Children and Pesticides

The very young are particularly vulnerable to environmental toxins, which can disrupt the development of their rapidly developing nervous, hormonal and respiratory systems, says Philip J. Landrigan, M.D., director of the Center for Children's Health and the Environment (CCHE) at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. Two new studies underscore the need to protect pregnant women and young children from pesticides.

A study of 162 Northern California children ranging from 0 to 14 years, published in the September 2002 Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP), found that "exposure to household pesticides is associated with an elevated risk of childhood leukemia," according to authors Xiaomei Ma et al. of Berkeley and Stanford. Exposures prenatally through the age of three carried the highest risk.

Preschoolers fed conventional diets had approximately six times higher levels of metabolized organophosphate pesticides in their bodies than children fed organic diets, according to a study at the University of Washington that will appear in a forthcoming EHP. Authors Cynthia Curl et al. found that "consumption of organic fruits, vegetables and juice can reduce children's exposure levels from above to below the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's current guidelines. . . ."