Multiple studies, one rural, link prenatal pesticide exposure to lower IQ scores in children

Prenatal exposure to organophosphate pesticides, commonly used on food crops and well-known neurotoxicants, has been linked to lower IQ scores in young children, says a report from the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley. The study is one of three published online April 21 in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives," reports Bioscience Technology, a monthly publication for biotechnology researchers. The study sampled children living in an agricultural community in Monterey County, California; the other two, at Mt. Sinai Medical Center and Columbia University, both in New York City, focused on urban populations.

"It is very unusual to see this much consistency across populations in studies, so that speaks to the significance of the findings," lead author and UC Berkeley post-doctoral researcher Maryse Bouchard said. " The children are now at a stage where they are going to school, so it's easier to get good, valid assessments of cognitive function."

Berkeley researchers observed 329 children from before birth to age seven as part of a longitudinal study for the Center for the Health Assessment of Mothers and Children of Salinas and found "that every tenfold increase in measures of organophosphates detected during a mother's pregnancy corresponded to a 5.5 point drop in overall IQ scores in the 7-year-olds," Bioscience Technology reports. Children with the higest levels of prenatal pesticide exposure scored seven points lower than those children with the lowest exposures, the study shows. "These associations are substantial, especially when viewing this at a population-wide level," said Berkeley epidemiology and maternal and child health professor and principal investigator Brenda Eskenazi. (Read more)