ADHD and Pesticides

A new study in the journal Pediatrics shows a direct link between the pesticide malathion and ADHD.

Malathion is a commonly available pesticide used by farmers and backyard gardeners to kill caterpillars and other insects on fruit trees and in vegetable gardens.

You might have it in your garden shed.

It's been generally known that children of farmworkers and others exposed to high levels of pesticides suffer from neurodevelopmental and behavioral disorders.

This study, however, looked at a wide cross-section of American children. Their main exposure to pesticides was from food, the authors of the study speculated.

I am glad that scientists are proving what I've been saying for 20 years: eating pesticided food is bad. (See Safe Produce for a list of foods with the highest levels of pesticide residue.)

It is a little scary to find out exactly how bad it is.

The researchers used urine samples to determine the level of malathion in the children's bodies. They found minute amounts of malathion metabolites in the children's urine, meaning they had had some exposure to the toxic chemical, probably from eating non-organic food. And the researchers discovered that children with a tenfold increase of malathion metabolites (still a small amount) had a 55% higher risk of having ADHD (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder).

Malathion is an organophosphate. There are 40 similar pesticides on the market, and at least 73 million pounds are used in agricultural and residential settings in the U.S. each year.

You can read more on the study in the Los Angeles Times.

I was writing 20 years ago about organophosphates being neurotoxic. It's great to see major studies backing this up, and that these studies are making the mainstream press, even though they're on page nine instead of page one.

And it's good to have a reminder that eating organic is not just a trendy thing to do. It is essential for the health of future generations.