Pesticide exposure in the womb could cause attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
Children whose mothers were exposed to certain types of pesticides while pregnant were more likely to have attention problems as they grew up, researchers claim.
Telegraph.co.uk
By Richard Alleyne,
The study, published in Environmental Health Perspectives, adds to evidence that some pesticides can affect the human brain.
Researchers at the University of California tested pregnant women for evidence that pesticides had actually been absorbed by their bodies, and then followed their children as they grew.
Women with more chemical traces of the pesticides in their urine while pregnant had children more likely to have symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, at age 5, the researchers found.
“While results of this study are not conclusive, our findings suggest that prenatal exposure to organophosphate pesticides may affect young children’s attention,” Amy Marks
To test for ADHD, the researchers questioned the mothers and also gave the children standardised tests.
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