New report examines possible links between effects from pesticides and effects on brain development in children

The report “Pesticide exposure and health risk in susceptible population groups”, carried out by researchers from Environmental Medicine at the University of Southern Denmark, describes a population study of two groups of insecticides, organophosphates and pyrethroids, for possible effects on the nervous and hormonal systems in children. Laboratory studies have shown that pesticides can have effects on the nervous system.

The researchers investigated whether it was possible to measure effects in vulnerable groups of the population, ie pregnant women and their children, caused by the amounts of insecticides to which the population is commonly exposed. In the study, the amount of degradation products from pyrethroid and organophosphate insecticides was measured in the urine of women and children as a picture of how much insecticide the subjects had been exposed to. The results showed that there were residues of organophosphates or pyrethroids in more than 90% of the samples.