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Household use of pesticides harms children’s gross motor development, study shows

    “Understanding the impact of household pesticide use on children’s motor development is critical because household pesticide use may be a modifiable risk factor,” said Hernandez-Cast, first author of Luo’s study. “Developing safer alternatives to pest control can promote healthier children’s development.”
       Researchers conducted a telephone survey of 296 mothers with newborns from the Maternal and Developmental Risks from Environmental and Social Stressors (MADRES) pregnancy cohort. The researchers assessed household pesticide use when infants were three months old. The researchers assessed infants’ gross and fine motor development at six months using age- and stage-specific questionnaires. Infants whose mothers reported home use of rodent and insect pesticides had significantly reduced motor abilities compared with infants who did not report home use of pesticides. Tracy Bastain
       “We have long known that many chemicals are harmful to the developing brain,” said Tracy Bastain, Ph.D., M.P.H., an environmental epidemiologist and senior author of the study. “This is one of the first studies to provide evidence that the use of pesticides at home can harm psychomotor development in infants. These findings are particularly important for socioeconomically disadvantaged groups, who often experience poor housing conditions and share the burden of exposure to environmental chemicals and a high burden of adverse health outcomes.”
       Participants in the MADRES cohort were recruited before 30 weeks of age at three collaborative community clinics and a private obstetrics and gynecology practice in Los Angeles. They are mostly low-income and Hispanic. Milena Amadeus, who developed the data collection protocol as project director of the MADRES study, sympathizes with mothers worried about their babies. “As a parent, it’s always scary when your children don’t follow a normal trajectory of growth or development because you start to wonder, ‘Will they be able to catch up?’ How will this affect their future? said Amadeus, whose twins were born before 26 weeks of gestation with delayed motor development. “I’m lucky to have insurance. I have the opportunity to bring them to appointments. I have the opportunity to help them grow at home, which I don’t know if many of our learning families do,” Amadeus added. whose twins are now a healthy 7 year old. “I have to admit that I was helped and I was privileged to receive help.” Rima Habre and Carrie W. Breton, all of the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California; Claudia M. Toledo-Corral, Keck School of Medicine and California State University, Northridge; Keck and the Department of Psychology at the University of Southern California. The research was supported by grants from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities, the Southern California Environmental Protection Agency, and the Center for Environmental Health Sciences, and the Lifespan Developmental Impact Study Approach; Environmental factors on metabolic and respiratory health (LA DREAMERS).


Post time: Aug-22-2024