I understand that ADHD has a neurobiological basis, but finding that requires rather extensive and expensive testing, so many diagnoses are based on subjective evaluations of the behavior - and for political and administrative reasons the ADHD label is applied rather liberally.
Wojtek
On Mon, May 17, 2010 at 9:54 AM, Sean Andrews <cultstud76 at gmail.com> wrote:
> [Jim Devine just posted to the Pen-L list. This is another article to
> file in the "capitalist farming technology is unconditionally good"
> folder. Organic farming might help keep them from getting ADHD or
> Parkinsons, but, golly, that would just be too hard. Those kids that
> have their neurotransmitters disrupted should just count themselves
> lucky to be alive and stop complaining about how they can't
> concentrate in school. Yeah Monsanto! -s]
>
> Time Magazine / Monday, May 17, 2010
> Study: A Link Between Pesticides and ADHD
> By Alice Park Monday
>
> [http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1989564,00.html]
>
> Studies linking environmental substances to disease are coming fast
> and furious. Chemicals in plastics and common household goods have
> been associated with serious developmental problems, while a long
> inventory of other hazards are contributing to rising rates of modern
> ills: heart disease, obesity, diabetes, autism.
>
> Add attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to the list. A new
> study in the journal Pediatrics associates exposure to pesticides to
> cases of ADHD in the U.S. and Canada. In the U.S. alone, an estimated
> 4.5 million children ages 5 to 17 have ever been diagnosed with ADHD,
> according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and rates
> of diagnosis have risen 3% a year between 1997 and 2006. Increasingly,
> research suggests that chemical influences, perhaps in combination
> with other environmental factors — like video gaming, hyperkinetically
> edited TV shows and flashing images in educational DVDs aimed at
> infants — may be contributing to the increase in attention problems.
>
> Led by Maryse Bouchard in Montreal, researchers based at the
> University of Montreal and Harvard University examined the potential
> relationship between ADHD and exposure to certain toxic pesticides
> called organophosphates. The team analyzed the levels of pesticide
> residues in the urine of more than 1,100 children aged 8 to 15 years
> old, and found that those with the highest levels of dialkyl
> phosphates, which are the breakdown products of organophosphate
> pesticides, also had the highest incidence of ADHD. Overall, they
> found a 35% increase in the odds of developing ADHD with every 10-fold
> increase in urinary concentration of the pesticide residues. The
> effect was seen even at the low end of exposure: kids who had any
> detectable, above-average level of the most common pesticide
> metabolite in their urine were twice as likely as those with
> undetectable levels to record symptoms of the learning disorder.
>
> "I was quite surprised to see an effect at lower levels of exposure,"
> says Bouchard, who used data on ADHD from the National Health and
> Nutrition Examination Survey, a long-term study of health parameters
> of a representative sample of U.S. citizens.
>
> Bouchard's analysis is the first to hone in on organophosphate
> pesticides as a potential contributor to ADHD in young children. But
> the author stresses that her study uncovers only an association, not a
> direct causal link between pesticide exposure and the developmental
> condition. There is evidence, however, that the mechanism of the link
> may be worth studying further: organophosphates are known to cause
> damage to the nerve connections in the brain — that's how they kill
> agricultural pests, after all. The chemical works by disrupting a
> specific neurotransmitter, acetylcholinesterase, a defect that also
> been implicated in children diagnosed with ADHD. In animal models,
> exposure to the pesticides has resulted in hyperactivity and cognitive
> deficits as well.
>
> "I am very confident in the correlation in this study, because we
> controlled for quite a few things that we thought could play a role,"
> says Bouchard. "Adjusting for those things did not change the results
> very much. Which indicates that there is very little potential for
> confounding in this association between pesticides and ADHD."
>
> The results also call for additional studies to determine exactly
> which foods and which residential uses of pesticides may be most
> likely to lead to harm in children. Although Bouchard's study did not
> determine the exact method of exposure in the participants, youngsters
> are most likely to ingest the chemicals through their diet — by eating
> fruits and vegetables that have been sprayed while growing — according
> to the National Academy of Sciences. The study also raises the
> possibility of setting a national threshold for safe levels of
> exposure; the study authors note that according to the U.S. Pesticide
> Residue Program report, organophosphates were detected in 28% of
> frozen blueberries, and in 19% of celery samples tested for
> pesticides. It is not clear whether those levels pose a threat to
> cognitive function in children, the current study's findings suggest
> it may be wise to figure it out.
>
> In the meantime, Bouchard suggests that concerned parents try to avoid
> using bug sprays in the home, and to feed their children organically
> grown fruits and vegetables, if possible. (Otherwise, parents should
> be careful to scrub all produce to reduce residues.) While
> pesticide-free fruits and greens may be more costly, Bouchard says
> they may be worth the price in terms of future health.
>
> --
> Jim Devine
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