PANUPS: Pesticides - A Greater Threat to Children

[Guest guest]

Tue, 07 Mar 2006 20:39:35 GMT

" Pesticide Action Network North America " <getactive

PANUPS: Pesticides - A Greater Threat to Children

 

 

Pesticides - A Greater Threat to Children

March 7, 2006

 

Children are more vulnerable than adults to dangers of all kinds. We

invest in car seats, babysitters, and childproofing our homes knowing

that environments that seem safe for adults are wrought with potential

disaster for the very young. However, we do not adequately protect

kids from chemical pollution in our environment, even though it too

may be much more dangerous to children than to adults. A new

scientific study shows that children can be up to 164 times more

sensitive than adults to pesticides that frequently contaminate

agricultural communities. The findings strengthen an ongoing lawsuit

alleging that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is not

adequately protecting children from pesticide exposures.

 

" The science is in: Children are born with lower levels of our bodies'

natural defenses against toxic pesticides, " said Dr. Gina Solomon,

M.D., a physician and senior scientist at the Natural Resources

Defense Council (NRDC). " Yet EPA too often ignores the clear

scientific evidence and fails to protect the most vulnerable people

from these dangerous chemicals. "

 

According to a research team led by Professor Brenda Eskenazi at the

University of California, Berkeley, newborn children can be 65 to 164

times more vulnerable than adults to the common agricultural

pesticides chlorpyrifos (Lorsban) and diazinon. The new study was

published in the scientific journal Pharmacogenetics and Genomics in

March 2006.

 

The Berkeley researchers worked with 130 Latina mothers and children

in the Salinas Valley agricultural region of California starting in

1998 . Blood samples from both groups were analyzed for a key enzyme

(known as PON1) which normally helps the human body detoxify the class

of pesticides known as organophosphates. Higher levels of the enzyme

help protect people from being poisoned by these chemicals. The

researchers examined levels of PON1 to predict the women and

children's sensitivities to these pesticides.

 

The study found great variations among individuals in their PON1

levels and concomitant sensitivity to organophosphates. Some of the

women studied were 14 times more sensitive to diazinon and 35 times

more sensitive to chlorpyrifos than other women. Some of the newborns

were 26 times more sensitive to diazinon and 65 times more sensitive

to chlorpyrifos than other newborns. The researchers also found that

the newborns had consistently lower levels of the protective enzyme

than the mothers, making them about four times more sensitive. When

the scientists compared across the entire group, the most sensitive

newborns were 65 times more sensitive to diazinon and 131 to 164 times

more sensitive to chlorpyrifos than the average mother.

 

The results of the Berkeley study call into question EPA's practices

to protect children and the public in general from pesticide exposure.

Due to differences in chemical tolerance between individuals,

regulators apply " uncertainty factors " when determining the maximum

levels of pesticides that they think people can be exposed to without

harm. Regulators reduce recommended exposure levels by a factor of 10

to account for the fact that some people are more sensitive than

others. The Food Quality Protection Act also mandates the addition of

a " child protection factor " reducing pesticide exposure levels by

another factor of 10 if data exist that show that children are more

sensitive or if key data are not available.

 

The Berkeley study indicates that both mothers' and children's

sensitivity to certain pesticides may be substantially greater than

the uncertainty factors used by EPA. NRDC and the Northwest Coalition

for Alternatives to Pesticides are using the study as further evidence

in their ongoing lawsuit charging that EPA fails to protect children

from pesticide exposure in foods including fruits, vegetables, milk,

eggs, meat, cereal grains and vegetable oils. The case is being heard

by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

 

EPA banned chlorpyrifos and diazinon for household use in December

2001 and December 2002 respectively largely because of hazards to

children, but it allowed continued use on agricultural crops. More

than 1.78 million pounds of chlorpyrifos were used in California in

2004, the most recent year for which data are available. The top uses

were on cotton, alfalfa, almonds and walnuts. More than 490,000 pounds

of diazinon were used in California in 2004, mostly on lettuce,

peaches, almonds, prunes and spinach. In 2001, the most recent year

for which EPA has reported data, about 20 percent of all foods for

sale had residues of one or more organophosphate pesticides. The

highest residues of chlorpyrifos tend to show up on apples from New

Zealand, grapes from Chile, tomatoes from Mexico and domestically

grown soybeans according to the University Of California report.

 

Chlorpyrifos has also recently been found to depress levels of the

nervous system enzyme cholinesterase in one out of ten farmworkers

studied in the state of Washington. " We're all exposed to pesticides

in the foods we eat, " said Margaret Reeves, Ph.D., senior scientist at

the Pesticide Action Network of North America. " But it's the

farmworkers and the fence line communities in agricultural areas that

are hit the hardest. " Altogether, these studies indicate that

chemical-intensive agriculture extracts a high price from rural

residents--especially the children.

 

Sources:

Furlong, Clement E., Nina Holland, Rebecca J. Richter, Asa Bradman,

Alan Ho and Brenda Eskenazi. 2006. " PON1 status of farmworker mothers

and children as a predictor of organophosphate sensitivity, "

Pharmacogenetics and Genomics 16:183-190.

 

NRDC Press Backgrounder. 2003. " NRDC Sues EPA (Again) for Failing to

Carry Out Pesticide Control Law. "

www.nrdc.org/media/pressreleases/030915a.asp

 

Farm Worker Pesticide Project, Columbia Legal Services, Farmworker

Justice Fund, and United Farm Workers. 2006. More Messages from

Monitoring: Year 2 of Washington State's Farm Worker Medical Tracking

Program.

http://www.fwpp.org/?page=MedicalMonitoring

Contact: Panna

 

Visit the web address below to tell your friends about this.

Tell-a-friend!

 

If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for

Pesticide Action Network North America.

 

 

 

 

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. We gladly accept donations for

our work and all contributions are tax deductible in the United States.

 

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

 

Email us at: panna. Phone us at: (415) 981-1771. Also see

Contact and visit information.