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PANUPS: Birth Weights Higher After Pesticide Ban

Tue, 20 Apr 2004 10:26:47 -0700

 

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P A N U P S

Pesticide Action Network Updates Service

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Birth Weights Higher After Pesticide Ban

April 16, 2004

 

A recent study in New York City reports a significant increase in infant birth

weights after two commonly used insecticides were banned for home use.

Chlorpyrifos, a pesticide manufactured by Dow Chemical, and diazinon, which is

produced by Syngenta, were widely used against cockroaches and other household

pests until most of these uses were banned by the U.S. Environmental Protection

Agency (U.S. EPA) in 2001 and 2002.

 

The current study, published in the April issue of Environmental Health

Perspectives, looked at 314 mother-infant pairs and is part of an ongoing

project by Colombia University evaluating the effects of indoor air pollutants

on minority mothers and their newborns in New York City. Study authors had

reported earlier that pesticide residues were detected in virtually all

low-income pregnant mothers studied, noting a strong correlation between

dilapidated housing and pesticide exposures. In a previous study, the project

also reported associations between levels of chlorpyrifos in umbilical cord

plasma and low birth weight.

 

This study, which compares infants born before and after the insecticides were

banned for household use, demonstrated that, on average, babies born before the

ban weighed 6.6 ounces less than infants born after the ban - a difference

comparable to the effects of smoking on infant birth weight.

 

Robin M. Whyatt of Colombia Mailman School of Public Health, principal author of

the study remarked, " We were surprised to see such a significant association

between exposure to the pesticides and birth weight. There is no question that

this is an instance where regulation worked, the EPA imposed a ban, and there

was an immediate benefit. "

 

All retail sales and indoor use of chlorpyrifos and diazinon ended in December

2001, and December 2002 respectively. U.S. EPA has estimated prior to the ban

that approximately 75% of U.S. diazinon and 50% of U.S. chlorpyrifos was used

for residential pest control. The ban did not affect use of the insecticides on

food crops, however. An estimated 10 million pounds of chlorpyrifos continue to

be used in agricultural settings, putting farmworkers, their families and

surrounding communities at the greatest risk of continued exposure. Consumers

are also at risk of exposure from residues in food and water.

 

The Columbia study combined interviews on pesticide exposure and use, data from

personal air monitors worn during pregnancy, and analysis of umbilical cord

plasma and infant blood. Levels of the banned insecticides were substantially

lower among infants born after January 2001, after the chlorpyrifos ban was in

place, while habits of using other pesticides did not appear to change over the

same period.

 

The study found combined exposures to diazinon and chlorpyrifos were common

among the mothers in the study before the ban, with both insecticides detected

simultaneously in 100% of the maternal personal air samples and in over a third

of cord blood samples. The study also reported a significant correlation between

the two insecticides in personal air and cord blood. Higher exposures (exposure

levels in the highest 25%) to the two pesticides combined was most closely

linked with lower infant birth weights. Prior to the bans, 34% of infants had

exposure levels of combined chlorpyrifos and diazinon; after chlorpyrifos was

banned in January 2001, only one infant had high combined exposure levels.

 

These study findings point to an immediate, positive health effect for infants

when use of chlorpyrifos and diazinon are curtailed. They also present proof

that pesticide exposures that U.S. EPA once determined to present " acceptable

risks " are, in fact, linked with unacceptable damage. U.S. EPA must both

strengthen its assessment of health risks of pesticide exposure during

pregnancy, and act immediately to ban agricultural uses of chlorpyrifos, to

protect agricultural workers, their children, and consumer health.

 

Prenatal Insecticide Exposures, Birth Weight and Length Among an Urban Minority

Cohort, Environmental Health Perspectives, April, 2004, (online March 22, 2004)

http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/docs/2004/6641/abstract.html; Birth Weights Up After

EPA Pesticide Ban, Study Finds, Washington Post, March 25, 2004.

Contact: PANNA

 

 

PANUPS is a weekly email news service providing resource guides and reporting on

pesticide issues that don't always get coverage by the mainstream media. It's

produced by Pesticide Action Network North America, a non-profit and

non-governmental organization working to advance sustainable alternatives to

pesticides worldwide.

 

You can join our efforts! We gladly accept donations for our work and all

contributions are tax deductible in the United States. Visit

http://www.panna.org/donate.

 

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