Thanks to Kathy Johnson of www.toxicdiscovery.com for this heads-up.
http://ilenarose.blogspot.com
Health Lover
FOR THE RECORD from LA TIMES:
Autism link: An article in Monday's California section about a new
state study that found that exposure to two pesticides may make women
more likely to give birth to children with autism said it was the
first study to find a link between pesticides and autism. Italian
scientists re****ted in 2005, however, that pesticides known as
organophosphates could cause neurological changes that lead to autism.
—
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-autism30jul30,0,6609909.story?coll=la-home-center
By Marla Cone, Times Staff Writer
Women who live near California farm fields sprayed with organochlorine
pesticides may be more likely to give birth to children with autism,
according to a study by state health officials to be published today.
The rate of autism among the children of 29 women who lived near the
fields was extremely high, suggesting that exposure to the
insecticides in the womb might have played a role. The study is the
first to re****t a link between pesticides and the neurological
disorder, which affects one in every 150 children.
But the state scientists cautioned that their finding is highly
preliminary because of the small number of women and children involved
and lack of evidence from other studies. "We want to emphasize that
this is exploratory research," said Dr. Mark Horton, director of the
California Department of Public Health. "We have found very
preliminary data that there may be an association. We are in no way
concluding that there is a causal relation****p between pesticide
exposure of pregnant women and autism."
The two pesticides implicated are older generation compounds
developed in the 1950s and used to kill mites, primarily on cotton as
well as some vegetables and other crops. Their volumes have declined
substantially in recent years. Examining three years of birth records
and pesticide data, scientists from the public health department
determined that the Central Valley women lived within 547 yards of
fields sprayed with organochlorine pesticides during their first
trimester of pregnancy.
Eight of them, or , 28%, had children with autism.
Their rate of autism was six times greater than for mothers who did
not live near the fields, the study said. Susan Kegley, senior
scientist of Pesticide Action Network North America, a San
Francisco-based advocacy group, said the re****t added to an existing
body of evidence that endosulfan and dicofol, already banned in some
countries, are harmful. "This is one of the first papers that links
use of pesticide to incidence of a disease, and autism in particular,"
she said. "The findings are very strong. This is a six-fold risk
factor in comparison to someone who is not exposed. There aren't too
many studies that come out like that."
Even though small numbers of children were involved, "it is still one
of those things that make you sit up and pay attention," she said. The
findings suggest that 7% of autism cases in the Central Valley during
the years studied — 1996 through 1998 — might have been connected to
exposure to the insecticides drifting off fields into residential
areas. Births during those years were analyzed because children born
later might not yet be diagnosed with autism. Children with autism
spectrum disorders have impaired social and communication skills. The
causes are unknown, but because diagnoses have been increasing,
scientists have been exploring various environmental factors,
including children's vaccines and chemical pollutants.
"The good news is we've used a new research technology to generate
hypotheses and possible associations, so we are making progress in the
battle to get more information" about the cause of autism, Horton
said. The goal of the study was to "systematically explore the general
hypothesis that residential proximity to agricultural pesticide
applications during pregnancy could be associated with autism spectrum
disorders in offspring," the authors wrote in their study, published
online today in the scientific journal Environmental Health
Perspectives.
The scientists collected records of nearly 300,000 children born in
the 19 counties of the Sacramento and San Joaquin river valleys. Of
them, 465 had autism. The scientists then compared the addresses
during pregnancy to state records that detailed the location of fields
sprayed with several hundred pesticides. For most pesticides, no
unusual numbers of autism cases were found but the exception was a
class of compounds called organochlorines. Most, including DDT, were
banned in the United States several decades ago because they were
building up in the environment. Only dicofol and endosulfan remain.
The autism rate was highest for children of those mothers who lived
the closest to the fields and it declined as the distance from the
fields increased. There is no other human or animal evidence that the
two chemicals can cause autism. But both are neurotoxins — they affect
nerves and the brain — and cause reproductive effects and alter
hormones in animal tests. In addition, dicofol is a possible human
carcinogen. The scientists concluded that "the possibility of a
connection between gestational exposure to organochlorine pesticides
and autism spectral disorders requires further study." A July re****t
by the Department of Pesticide Regulation said endosulfan can spread
far from fields via the air and expose the public, based on air
monitoring in Fresno, Monterey and Tulare counties. The state
Department of Pesticide Regulation is likely to designate endosulfan
as a toxic air contaminant soon, and dicofol could follow. That
designation triggers a review by the agency to see whether steps
should be taken to minimize the chemicals drifting off fields into
nearby communities.
Glenn Brank, spokesman for the pesticide agency, said officials there
are "very interested" in the new autism data but say that "more work"
on the potential link is needed before it can carry much weight in
*****sments of the chemicals' risks. The two insecticides are now used
much less often than in the years that the possible connection to
autism was found. As a result, there is less likelihood that pregnant
women are exposed today. Nearly 774,000 pounds were applied in 1996,
compared with 277,000 pounds in 2005, down nearly 64%, according to
state records. "In the past couple years, the bottom has dropped out
of these two," Brank said. Insects have built up resistance and cotton
farmers have switched to new compounds. The two chemicals are not
found in household or yard pesticides. Traces are found in food, but
the study looked only at possible exposure from the air. They are used
most extensively in Fresno, Kings, Imperial and Tulare counties.
Dicofol is mostly used on cotton, oranges, beans and walnuts.
Endosulfan is used primarily in tomato processing and on lettuce,
alfalfa and cotton crops.
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