Pesticides and pregnancy

By mudlark • December 11th, 2007

The December issue of Environmental Health Perspectives has an interesting article that links childhood cancers – Acute Leukemia and Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma – to the mother’s use of or exposure to pesticides and insecticides during pregnancy.

It’s based on a study done in France that looked at non-agricultural families. This is the first study to test the effects of pesticides and insecticides used in domestic situations, and it found startling results. Even moms who only used pesticides or insecticides once during their pregnancy have children with increased rates of leukemia and non-Hodgkins lymphoma. In fact, the rate increases two-fold. That’s right, children whose mothers used insecticides inside or outside the home during pregnancy were twice as likely to develop hematopoietic cancers.

What qualifies as pesticides or insecticides? Any chemical-based application of insecticide to rid the home, pets, or garden of crawling or flying pests, any herbicidal ‘weed-killer,’ or any fungicide to get rid of mold. The conclusion therein is that pregnant mommies avoid such products both during the pregnancy and preferably while nursing an infant as well. We might draw similar conclusions that if those chemicals are harmful to the developing fetus, they might also cause due harm on anyone with a suppressed immune system – the elderly, children, or the infirm.

Just another reason to take steps toward the organic side of life.

Note: When I googled hematopoietic cancers, I also came across studies linking these specific cancers to pregnant mommies’ use of chemical hair dyes, consumption of aspartame sweetener, and exposure to ethylene oxide (a sterilizing agent).