Banned Insecticide Poses New Threats to Young Children

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July 5th, 2006

"New Threat to Young Children Caused from Insecticide"

A recent study conducted by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, shows that the insecticide DDT causes mental and physical impairments in babies whose mothers were exposed to the banned chemical.

Researchers examined 360 pregnant women who had emigrated from Mexico to the Salinas Valley in California. All of the women had been exposed to DDT, and all of the babies were born in the United States.

As part of the study, the scientists measured pesticide levels in the mothers and tested the mental and motor skills of their infants and toddlers. The mental tests specifically measured memory, problem solving skills, and other learning and thinking abilities.

The findings revealed that DDT exposure caused diminished mental capacity. Children whose mothers were exposed to DDT scored anywhere from 2 to 10 points lower on the mental test than those whose mother''s were not exposed.

“This suggests that DDT has effects that no one thought to test back when it was in use,” said epidemiologist Walter Rogan, who works at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

The United States government banned DDT in 1972. Mexico did not completely ban the use of the pesticide until 2000.

According to the researchers, the Salinas Valley women, whose DDT exposure levels were eight times higher than the average levels found in the U.S. population, were most likely exposed in Mexico since most of them had emigrated less than five years ago.

The research team plans to follow the neurological effects of DDT in these children until they reach school age. The U.C. Berkeley study is part of a federally funded project to determine whether the heavy use of agricultural chemicals in Salinas Valley are harming children.

The results of this study are published in the July issue of the journal Pediatrics .