PANUPS: Pesticides Affect Child Development

[Guest guest]

PANUPS

 

PANUPS: Pesticides Affect Child Development in India

Tue, 22 Jun 2004 17:03:32 -0700

 

===========================================

P A N U P S

Pesticide Action Network Updates Service

===========================================

 

Pesticides Affect Child Development in India

June 22, 2004

 

A large-scale study has found evidence that children living in regions of

intensive pesticide use may be at risk for impaired mental development. Released

in April 2004 by Greenpeace India, the study tested a total of 899 children in

Indian states where pesticides are used intensively in growing cotton, and

compared the results with a nearly equal number of children living where few

agricultural pesticides are applied. Researchers evaluated children ages 4 to 5

years and 9 to 13 years, and attempted to match income and social status among

the two subject groups. The study reports that in more than two thirds of the

tests, children living where pesticides are widely used performed significantly

worse.

 

" Children from regions as diverse as Tamil Nadu and Punjab, who have nothing in

common but their exposure to pesticides, [appear to] share an inability to

perform simple play-based exercises -- such as catching a ball or assembling a

jigsaw puzzle -- simply because they've been exposed to pesticides over a period

of time, " says Kavitha Kuruganti, of Greenpeace India.

 

The researchers noted a significant difference in abilities between the exposed

and less-exposed children with trends remaining more or less consistent across

different locations and age groups. For example, in Andhra Pradesh, the second

highest pesticide using state, less-exposed children performed a physical

stamina test for significantly longer periods of time (14.80 seconds longer on

average for 4-5 year old children and 64.50 seconds longer for 9-13 year olds).

In Tamil Nadu, where cotton production and intensive pesticide use has been

common for only five years, exposed children aged 4 to 5 years scored nearly 30

percentage points lower on a 30 minute memory test, while children aged 9-13

scored only 21 points lower than non exposed children.

 

The findings reinforce an earlier study performed in the Yaqui Valley, a tobacco

growing region of Mexico, which noted dramatic deficits in brain function in

rural children with long-term exposure to pesticides. The Greenpeace India study

used an assessment tool developed for the Yaqui Valley study, adapted to

conditions in India. The assessment involved a series of tests designed for the

child to interpret as normal play, involving mental ability, memory,

concentration, cognitive skills such as drawing, and balance, fine motor and

gross motor coordination.

 

Researchers pointed out that the study captured the " more insidious effects of

pesticides, " reflected in the long term and chronic effects on children's

development. The study concluded, " This is a great cause for concern and alarm

since the very basic right to healthy development is being taken away from these

children. "

 

In India, cotton occupies less than five per cent of cultivated land, but

represents an estimated 54% of agricultural pesticide use. Organophosphate

pesticides, which affect the central nervous system, are the most commonly used

class of pesticides used in India. Pesticides such as methyl-parathion and

monocrotophos, classified by the World Health Organization as " highly to

extremely hazardous to human health " are also produced and used in India.

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, these highly

toxic pesticides are not safe for use in developing countries where access to

water, chemical safety training and protective equipment may not be available.

 

Study authors note that routes of exposure to pesticides for the children in the

study areas are both direct and indirect, given the extensive cotton

cultivation. Exposures may occur before conception through the impact of

pesticides on sperm, in utero, via breastmilk, and through residues in food and

water, soil and air. In many of the study villages, dry cotton stalks are burned

for cooking fuel, releasing pesticide residues in smoke.

 

The study also looked at pesticide alternatives available in India for cotton

production, including a new system of crop and pesticide management, Non

Pesticidal Management (NPM) as well as organic cotton production and integrated

pest management (IPM). At the same time the study noted a lack of government

resources for non chemical agricultural production. Greenpeace India offered a

number of recommendations for government including; greater support to organic

farming (especially for cotton); bans on pesticides restricted in other

countries; stronger pesticide regulation and holding the pesticide industry

responsible for damage caused by its products. Greenpeace also called on the

pesticide industry to compensate the affected children.

 

Sources: Arrested Development, Greenpeace, India, Kuruganti, K, Children at

Risk, Pesticides exposure hinders mental development amongst farmers' children;

Greenpeace releases evidence from nation-wide study,

http://www.greenpeaceindia.org/recentnewsdetails.php?Newstype=subnews & rnid=211;

An Anthropological Approach to the Evaluation of Preschool Children Exposed to

Pesticides in Mexico, Guillette, E, et al, Environmental Health Perspectives,

Vol 106, No 6: June 1998; PANUPS: Pesticide Exposure May Impair Children's Brain

Function, June 6, 1998,

http://www.panna.org/resources/pestis/PESTIS980608.1.html.

 

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.

 

===========================================

Back issues of PANUPS are available online at:

http://www.panna.org/resources/panups.html

 

Please note: responses to this message will not be read.

To comment, send an email to:

panna

 

To , send a blank email to:

PANUPS-

 

Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA)

49 Powell St., Suite 500, San Francisco, CA 94102 USA

Phone: (415) 981-1771

Fax: (415) 981-1991

Email: panna

Web: http://www.panna.org

 

====================================================================