Pediatricians and researchers have understood for decades that children are more vulnerable to health-harming chemicals than adults.
Hundreds of scientific studies now show that children who are exposed to pesticides in utero or during other critical periods of development can suffer serious, long term health harms, including lower IQs, birth defects, and developmental delays. They may also face higher risk of autism spectrum disorder, ADHD and certain childhood cancers.
Infants and children interact with their environment much differently than adults — they learn through touch, and often exhibit hand to mouth behavior. They also have much faster metabolic rates, so pound for pound they take in more water, food, and air. In addition, their bodies are less able than adults’ to detoxify and expel harmful chemicals.
Children are thus absorbing a proportionately higher load of pesticides at a time when their bodies are least equipped to protect themselves from the harms of these chemicals.
How are children exposed?
The American Academy of Pediatrics points to pesticide residues on food as the most critical route of childhood exposure. Children can also be exposed:
- In the womb: When a fetus is exposed to certain chemicals at particular times — as the brain is under construction, or organs are taking shape — the normal process of development can be derailed, with sometimes irreversible effects.
- At home: If pesticides are used in homes, lawns or gardens where an infant or toddler is exploring the world, exposure is a near certainty.
- On schools & playgrounds: Use of toxic chemicals to control pests in schools and on playing fields can make the school environment less than safe for growing bodies and developing minds.
As PAN researchers found in their 2016 report Kids on the Frontline, rural children are especially at risk. In addition to the exposure routes above, they may also face agricultural pesticides drifting from nearby fields into their homes or onto school grounds — or contaminating the water they drink every day.
Brain development
Many public health specialists are calling for action to address the “silent pandemic” of neurodevelopmental problems affecting children around the world today — from increased rates of learning disabilities to ADHD and autism.
PAN’s A Generation in Jeopardy report highlights scientific evidence indicating that pesticide exposure — particularly during pregnancy and early childhood — can interrupt brain development in significant and lasting ways. For example:
- A study of Yaqui Indian children in Mexico found that an array of impaired brain and nervous system functions, including social behaviors and the ability to draw, are correlated with pesticide exposure.
- One study found that pregnant mothers who eat foods with low-level organophosphate pesticide residues can increase their children’s risk of ADHD.
- Using MRI technology, researchers found that in utero exposure to the widely used insecticide chlorpyrifos changed the architecture of the brain.
These are just a handful of the many studies linking even low levels of pesticide exposure with harm to a child’s developing nervous system.
Childhood cancers
Government data confirms that U.S. childhood cancer rates are higher than ever before, and continue to climb. Cancer is now the second most common cause of death among U.S. children between one and 14 years of age, according to the National Cancer Institute.
Cancer-causing chemicals are contributing to this upward trend. As PAN scientists document in A Generation in Jeopardy, many recent studies link pesticide exposure to the most common childhood cancers, including leukemia, brain tumors and neuroblastoma.
Researchers have found that exposure during key windows of fetal development and parental exposure before conception are particularly important. They’ve also found that children who grow up in agricultural areas with heavy pesticide use have a “significantly increased risk” of developing cancer.
Resources:
A Generation in Jeopardy, 2012
Kids on the Frontline, 2016