Health, Microbes, and More
Once again it is summer – the weather is hot, flowers are blooming, and pesticide application signs appear on lawns throughout the United States. Americans love their lawns, and there seems to be a national obsession for one that looks like a lush weed-free carpet. Lawns can be thought of as the largest crop in ...continue reading "Are Lawn and Garden Pesticides Harming Us?"
For years scientists have warned of breast cancer links to some pesticides, while the EPA and the chemical industry pooh-poohed these associations. Just a coincidence, not true, studies poorly done, and ignore or attack were their common responses. Seeing a mismatch between scientific evidence and what the EPA was saying led researchers at the respected ...continue reading "EPA Needs to Look At Breast Cancer Risks From Pesticides"
The evidence is building, study by study, that we are all exposed to a mixture of hormone disrupting chemicals (endocrine disruptors) on a daily basis, and that these have serious health effects, including on the developing fetus during pregnancy. Researchers found that early prenatal exposure to a mixture of endocrine disrupting chemicals was associated with ...continue reading "Pregnancy, Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals, and Lower IQ"
Pesticides are harmful to developing brains, especially during pregnancy. A number of studies have already found that higher exposure to organophosphate pesticides during pregnancy is linked to poorer cognitive functioning and behavior problems in children. A recent University of California study actually looked at the brain activity in 95 teenagers while they were doing a ...continue reading "Certain Pesticides Linked to Altered Brain Activity In Teenagers"
Can pesticides be detected in your home? A Cornell University study found that every single home they studied in different areas of upstate New York had detectable pesticide residues in the homes. Every single one of the 132 rural homes. Pesticides are colorless and odorless, but they still may be in your home from applications ...continue reading "Can Pesticides Be Detected In Your Home?"
Once again a study finds that pesticide exposure is linked to an adverse health effect - that pesticide exposure in the home during pregnancy and early childhood is linked to an elevated risk of brain tumor in the child. Other studies have also found that pesticides used in the home are associated with a higher risk ...continue reading "Pesticide Use During Pregnancy and Childhood Brain Tumors"
Another study has linked childhood behavioral problems to pesticide exposure, this time to pyrethroid insecticide exposure. Pyrethroids are synthetic pesticides (insecticides) that are increasingly used for personal use (mosquito repellents and treatments for head lice, scabies), on pets (for fleas), home use (e.g., Raid pesticides), and in agriculture. Until recently, they have been viewed as "safer" ...continue reading "Common Pesticides and Behavioral Problems in Children"
An important study was recently published that documents that when pregnant women are exposed to potentially harmful chemicals in the environment around them (environmental pollutants), many of these chemicals also get transferred to the fetus. Many of the 59 chemicals looked for were detected in the newborn babies' umbilical cords (thus the chemicals had crossed the ...continue reading "Exposure To Harmful Chemicals During Pregnancy Shows Up In the Newborn"
The link between pesticide exposure (pesticides used in the home or in the garden or lawn) and childhood brain tumors has been known for years. From Science Daily: Factors associated with childhood brain tumors identified Older parents, birth defects, maternal nutrition and childhood exposure to CT scans and pesticides are increasingly being associated with brain ...continue reading "Some Pregnancy Behaviors Associated with Problems Later"
The researchers of this study looked at proximity to farm fields (how close a pregnant woman lives to a farm) and certain farm pesticides and found a link between exposure to farm pesticides during pregnancy and having a child with autism. But too bad they didn't also include pesticide exposures from homes (for pest control), ...continue reading "Farm Pesticides and Autism Link"