Pesticides Make Us Dumber

Ethonomic Indicator of the Day: 7 -- The number of IQ points that children exposed to pesticides in utero fell behind other children.

From the department of "science proves the obvious": exposure to neurotoxic pesticides in the womb results in children with lower IQs, according to a study from the University of California at Berkeley. Time to raid the organic fruits and vegetables section of Whole Foods.

UC Berkeley's study focused on organophosphate exposure (a neurotoxic pesticide sprayed on food crops and used for pest control in apartments) among children in Salinas, an agriculture-heavy town in California. The results were disturbing: Children exposed to the most prenatal pesticides scored seven points lower on standardized intelligence tests compared with children who had the lowest pesticide exposure levels. Two similar studies from Mt. Sinai Medical Center and Columbia University (published in this month's Environmental Health Perspectives) also found links between prenatal pesticide exposure and IQ. Exposure to organophosphates after birth had no repercussions on intelligence (but still: not good for you).

FYI: GMOs that drink your blood

Below the fold, a letter from Pesticide Action Network Asia/Pacific on the application by the Malasian Institute for Medical Research to release GM mosquitoes into the wild.

We refer to the public announcement by the National Biosafety Board of Malaysia about the application by the Institute for Medical Research (IMR) for the release of genetically modified male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in Pahang and Melaka (referred to as Living Modified Organisms or LMOs of the OX513A strain) (Reference No. NRE(S) 609-2/1). We have serious concerns and objections.

First of all, there is a lack of transparency and information about the genes involved in the genetic engineering of the mosquito. For example, how is this male LMO ‘created’? Is there not the risk of a margin of error that might allow female LMOs to be selected in the process? What are the sources of the molecular marker and the ‘lethal’ gene that will make the offspring of the LMO and a female Aedes aegypti die? This is very critical.