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Chronic illness is widespread in many industrialized nations like the U.S., and more studies than ever are linking this disease epidemic to pesticide exposure. According to a new database designed to catalog these studies, pesticides are linked to cancer, reproductive dysfunction, diabetes, autism, asthma, birth defects, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases and more.
Pesticides may be a leading cause of major diseases
Seeded on Tue Aug 24, 2010 12:17 PM EDT
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- Public Discussion (5)
of course it is
I have neighbors who have been using pesticides and herbicides for decades.. they have ms and cancer. I know farmers whove been exposed for decades and they all have cancer and other probs up the wazoo.
pesticides should not be used as a matter of routine.. they should be kept as a matter of last resort when a crop is in danger of being wiped out like by some plague of locusts. even thats questionable
- 4 votes
#2 - Tue Aug 24, 2010 12:33 PM EDTA new study, published last week in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, looked at the effects of both prenatal and childhood exposure to organophosphate pesticides -- of which 73 million pounds are applied each year in the U.S. -- and found yet another link to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Not surprisingly, children living in agricultural areas are even more at risk.
UC Berkeley researchers have been studying more than 300 Mexican-American children living in California's Salinas Valley, aka America's "Lettuce Bowl." They tested for levels of pesticide metabolites in urine in pregnant mothers, their newborns, and at 2 years old. The findings? Each tenfold increase in pesticide levels in the mothers' urine was associated with a fivefold increase in attention problems, and boys had it worse than girls.
A post that Grist contributor Elanor Starmer wrote for the Ethicurean about her 2008 visit to an pesticide-smothered agricultural community in California's Central Valley has stuck with me: The realities of industrial agriculture are out of sight for most of us, and yet we consume the fruits of the labor of farmworker communities. They bear the burden of chronic pesticide exposure and the long-term health impacts that stem from it, including asthma, developmental disorders, cancer, Parkinson's, and autism.
Get off your ass alert: If you'd like to get more involved beyond voting with your wallet, the groups Beyond Pesticides, Californians for Pesticide Reform, and Pesticide Action Network North America are all great resources. PANNA has a link and phone numbers to urge your representative to co-sponsor the Toxic Chemical Safety Act (HR 5820), recently introduced by Representatives Bobby Rush and Henry Waxman, which would overhaul America's outdated chemical policies, including adding strong language to prioritize action on persistent, bioaccumulative, toxic chemicals.
http://www.grist.org/article/food-more-research-linking-pesticide-exposure-to-adhd-in-kids/
- 3 votes
Just wanted to add that recent studies (last 2 years) showed a high rate of breast cancer for women who live on golf courses. (Constant pesticides........)
Also farmers dealing with pesticides have a much earlier onset of dreaded neurological diseases.
- 1 vote
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