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Pesticide Exposure and Child Neurodevelopment: Summary and Implications

2012; SAGE Publishing; Volume: 60; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.3928/21650799-20120426-73

2165-0969

Jianghong Liu, Erin Schelar,

Heavy Metal Exposure and Toxicity

Widely used around the world, pesticides play an important role in protecting health, crops, and property.However, pesticides may also have detrimental effects on human health, with young children among the particularly vulnerable.Recent research suggests that even low levels of pesticide exposure can affect young children's neurological and behavioral development.Evidence shows a link between pesticides and neonatal reflexes, psychomotor and mental development, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.Implications include a need for improved risk assessment and health histories by clinicians, greater education at all levels, more common use of integrated pest management, and continued policy and regulatory strategies to mitigate the effects of and the need for pesticides.Pesticides are widely used both in the United States and around the world.The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has estimated that nearly 75% of American households use pesticides, frequently targeting cockroaches and ants, and in total more than 1 billion tons of pesticide products are used each year commercially and agriculturally (EPA, 2010a).Pesticides are used not only in developed countries, but also in developing countries where less regulation protects the public from certain pesticides with deleterious effects or that may be used at any level (Ecobichon, 2001).Pesticides have an important role in agriculture and public health.Farmers use pesticides to protect their crops.Residentially, pesticides may be used to eliminate rodents or insects, as these animals carry or cause disease or damage property.Pesticides encompass a broad category of substances, including insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, rodenticides, and fumigants, aimed at preventing, destroying, or repelling pests (Chalupka & Chalupka, 2010), including insects (e.g., cockroaches), rodents (e.g., mice), microorganisms (e.g., bacteria), or unwanted plants (EPA, 2010a).Pesticides can be classified by the type of organisms they target or by their composition (e.g., chemicals, biopesticides, antimicrobials, or pest control devices).This article focuses on the effects of chemical pesticides.