• 17
  • May
    2010

Chelsie-Garza.jpgChildren with higher levels of the pesticide malathion in their urine seem to be at an increased risk of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, researchers reported recently.
Several previous studies have linked neurodevelopmental and behavioral disorders such as ADHD to exposure to pesticides, but generally in children of farm workers and others exposed to abnormally high levels of the chemicals.
The new study is the first to focus on "a population sample more representative of the United States, and not one selected for being at high exposure," said epidemiologist Marc G. Weisskopf of Harvard University's School of Public Health, the senior author of the paper in the journal Pediatrics.
Weisskopf and his colleagues studied data on 1,139 children from the government's National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey for the period 2000 to 2004. Among the information collected in the survey were the level of metabolites of malathion in urine and, through a structured interview with the parents, whether a child had been formally diagnosed with ADHD. There were 119 children diagnosed with ADHD.

Weisskopf and his colleagues speculated that for most of the children in their study, exposure came through food. The 2008 report of the U.S. pesticide residue program found, for example, that 28% of frozen blueberries, 25% of strawberries and 19% of celery were contaminated with malathion.

For more information please see: http://health.usnews.com/health-news/blogs/on-parenting/2010/05/17/pesticides-5-ways-to-reduce-childrens-exposure.html; http://www.click2houston.com/health/23574493/detail.html