Home | Non-food | Environment | Pesticide, flame retardant linked to ADHD

Pesticide, flame retardant linked to ADHD

08/22/2010 14:01:00 admin
Font size: Decrease font Enlarge font

During pregnancy, women’s exposure to organophosphate pesticides boosts risk of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in their offspring, according to a new study reported in the Aug 19 2010 issue of the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

Brenda Eskenazi, University of California - Berkeley professor of epidemiology and of maternal and child health and colleagues - found higher pesticide exposure during pregnancy was significantly associated with attention problems in children aged 5 years.

The association was based on data from 300 Mexican-American children who were enrolled in the Center for the Health Assessment of Mothers and Children of Salinas.

Dr. Eskenazi explained in a previous report, also published in 2007 in the same journal, that fetuses and young children are more susceptible to potential neurotoxic effects of pesticides because their brains are developing.

She said organophosphates break down the enzyme acetylcholinesterase, which is already lower during pregnancy, and allow acetylycholine to accumulate in the neuronal junction. This action disrupts cell replication and differentiation, synap-togenesis and axonogenesis. Other pathways may also be involved in the neurotoxicity of pesticides.

Sagiv S.K. and colleagues from Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts published a study in the March 2010 issue of American Journal of Epidemiology, which states that prenatal organochlorine exposure was also associated with ADHD in school-aged children.

One common organochlorine is polychlorinated biphenyl, which was widely used as a flame-retardant.  Even though this chemical has been banned, it persists in the environment and its successor, polybromiinated biphenyl, which is now used as a flame retardant in carpets and furniture, may have the same effect.

Sagiv et al. found that children who had the highest exposure to polychlorinated biphenyl were 76 percent more likely to suffer ADHD compared with those who had the lowest exposure.

By David Liu editing by Rachel Stockton
  • email Email to a friend
  • print Print version
  • Plain text Plain text
Newsletter
Email:

Rate this article
3.50