A new study has revealed a worrying link between exposure to the common insecticide chlorpyrifos (CPF) before birth and lasting changes in children’s brains and motor skills. Researchers found that these effects can be seen for many years after a child is born.
The study, led by scientists from Columbia University, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, and the Keck School of Medicine of USC, is the first to show that prenatal exposure to CPF can cause molecular, cellular, and metabolic changes in the human brain that persist over time. The findings were published in the journal JAMA Neurology.
How the study worked:
Researchers followed 270 children who were part of a birth cohort study in New York City. All these children were born to mothers of Latino and African-American backgrounds. At birth, scientists found detectable levels of CPF in the umbilical cord blood of each child. Later, between the ages of 6 and 14, these children underwent brain scans and had their motor skills tested.
The results showed a clear pattern. Children who had higher levels of CPF exposure before birth had more noticeable differences in their brain structure and function. They also performed less well on tests that measured how fast they could move and how well they could coordinate their movements.
This suggests that exposure to CPF before birth disrupts the development of the brain’s structure, function, and metabolism. The more exposure a child had before birth, the greater the impact appears to be.
Ongoing risks:
For the children in this study, the main source of CPF exposure was from its use inside homes. Although the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency banned CPF for household use in 2001, it is still used in agriculture for certain non-organic crops and grains. This means that farm workers and people living near farms can still be exposed to it through contaminated air and dust.
“Even now, widespread exposure at levels similar to what was seen in this study continues to put farm workers, pregnant women, and unborn babies at risk,” said Dr. Virginia Rauh, a senior author of the study. “It’s very important that we keep checking exposure levels in vulnerable groups, especially pregnant women in farming areas, as their babies are still at risk.”
Dr. Bradley Peterson, the lead author of the study, added, “The disruptions in brain tissue and metabolism we found from prenatal exposure to this single pesticide were surprisingly widespread throughout the brain. Other similar pesticides likely cause similar effects. This means we need to be careful to minimise exposure during pregnancy, infancy, and early childhood, when the brain is developing rapidly and is most vulnerable to these toxic chemicals.”
The research team included experts from several institutions. At Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, co-authors were Howard Andrews, Wanda Garcia, and Frederica Perera. From the Institute for the Developing Mind at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, the team included Sahar Delavari, Ravi Bansal, Siddhant Sawardekar, and Chaitanya Gupte. Lori A. Hoepner from SUNY Downstate School of Public Health also took part.
The study received funding from several national health institutes and environmental protection agencies, as well as private foundations and donors. Some researchers reported potential conflicts of interest related to their financial interests or patents, while others reported no conflicts.