A new study released June 23 suggests that women exposed to pesticides during pregnancy leads to higher risks of autism in their children. The study conducted by the MIND Institute at the University of California, Davis monitored over 1,000 families, asking questions about the child’s behavior, mother’s address during pregnancy, and other lifestyle questions. The study linked the mother’s location during pregnancy to the children’s autism.
Mothers who were pregnant while living near places with a high level of pesticide exposure, such as farms and golf-courses, were found more likely to have a child with autism. The pesticides incapacitate insects by breaking down their nervous system. Adults are immune to this harm because their brains and nervous systems are fully-formed and have adapted special filters. Young and unborn children, however, do not have these same filters and are negatively impacted by the pesticides, leading to or causing autism.
[Image: Shutterstock]
This link between autism and location, however, is not accepted by all.
Philippe Grandjean of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston has pointed out a major flaw, which is the incomplete data at the time of this study. Grandjean says that urine and blood samples were not collected from the pregnant women to measure the levels of pesticide exposure, since this study looked back in time. Because of this, the study cannot absolutely say that the pesticides are the cause of the autism in the affected children.
While it is likely, the link was not scientifically proven. Women in their third trimester are encouraged to be cautious of their environment, as well as, the commercially-available pesticides they use in their own homes. The third trimester is when the child is most at risk, so although this study is not universally accepted, it is better to play it safe for the well-being of the child.
[Image: Shutterstock]