Pesticides

Reducing Environmental Cancer Risk: What We Can Do Now

President's Cancer Panel, May 2010

“The true burden of environmentally induced cancers has been grossly underestimated...[the President should] use the power of your office to remove carcinogens and other toxins from our food, water, and air...” This groundbreaking report from what Nicholas Kristoff calls the "Mount Everest of the medical mainstream" definitively calls out the key role environmental chemicals, including pesticides, play in cancer risk.

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New Study Links Pesticides to ADHD in Children

"Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Urinary Metabolites of Organophosphate Pesticides"

Researchers from University of Montreal and Harvard University in Boston found exposure to organophosphate pesticides increased the risk of children having the symptoms of the developmental disorder ADHD. Published online May 2010 in Pediatrics.
abstract
report (PDF)

Simplifying the Pesticide Risk Equation: The Organic Option

The Organic Center, March 2008

Since the Center's 2004 "State of Science Review" (SSR) on pesticide residues in conventional and organic foods, new data and risk assessment methods have emerged that provide a basis to quantify the pesticide risk reduction benefits of organic farming. Our new SSR on pesticide residues and risk provides answers to frequently asked questions about relatively-high risk foods, as well as foods that pose no or modest dietary risks.Our findings are encouraging. By converting less than 3% of the nation's farmland to organic methods, pesticide dietary risks could be driven down to a fraction of today's levels.

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Pesticide Exposures Increase Risk of Gestational Diabetes

Diabetes Care, Vol. 30, No. 3, March 2007.

Occupational exposure to pesticides during the first trimester of pregnancy more than doubles the risk of gestational diabetes.learn more

Environmental And Economic Costs Of The Application Of Pesticides Primarily In The United States

An obvious need for an updated and comprehensive study prompted this investigation of the complex of environmental costs resulting from the nation's dependence on pesticides.

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The Myth of Pesticides

Conventional farming is dependent on synthetic biocides (pesticides, fungicides and herbicides). These poisons are used in food production to kill pests, diseases and weeds. A major myth is that most modern agricultural chemicals leave few residues. We are misled into believing that they break down and do not persist in our food.

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