Hot on the heels of the esteemed President’s Cancer Panel recommending that people eat organic food comes another good reason to steer clear of pesticides: they may cause attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Researchers from Harvard University and the University of Montreal studied 1139 children aged between 8 and 15 and found those with higher residue levels of organophosphate pesticides were more likely to have ADHD, which affects between 3 and 7 per cent of school-aged children in the US, according to an AFP report in The Sydney Morning Herald.
Whereas previous studies into the effects of organophosphate pesticides on neurodevelopment had focused on people with high levels of exposure, such as farm workers, this new study looked at kids from a cross-section of the population. They were exposed to pesticides from eating everyday food.
Read the full report here.
