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27/10/2008
Many pesticides used in the European Union may damage brain growth in foetuses and young children, according to a study published on 24 October. The study urged the European Union to tighten restrictions.
"Toxicity to the brain is not routinely included in testing pesticides," Philippe Grandjean of the Harvard School of Public Health and the University of Southern Denmark said this week.
"Because many of them are by design toxic to the brain of insects, it is very likely that they are also toxic to human brains," he said of a review of almost 200 scientific reports worldwide about the brain and pesticides.
"Laboratory experimental studies using model compounds suggest that many pesticides currently used in Europe can cause neuro-developmental toxicity," Grandjean and two colleagues in Denmark wrote in the journal Environmental Health.
The developing brain of the foetus and young child is far more sensitive than the adult brain to disruptions from chemicals, they said.
The study focused on the use of pesticides in the 27-nation EU, which is reviewing pesticide laws. It urged greater testing and caution in approving chemicals because of uncertainties about their effects.
Pesticides used on food crops in the EU exceed 140 000 tons a year, corresponding to 280gm per EU citizen, the study said.
More than 25% of fruits, vegetables and cereals contain detectable residues of at least two pesticides, the study found.
Pesticide chemicals that could be damaging included organophosphates, carbamates, pyrethroids, ethylenebisdithiocarbamates and chlorophenoxy herbicides.
Source : Reuters
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