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P A N U P S
Pesticide Action Network Updates Service
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Pesticides Affect Child Development in India
June 22, 2004

A large-scale study has found evidence that children living in regions of
intensive
pesticide use may be at risk for impaired mental development. Released in
April
2004 by Greenpeace India, the study tested a total of 899 children in Indian
states
where pesticides are used intensively in growing cotton, and compared the
results
with a nearly equal number of children living where few agricultural
pesticides are
applied. Researchers evaluated children ages 4 to 5 years and 9 to 13 years,
and
attempted to match income and social status among the two subject groups. The
study
reports that in more than two thirds of the tests, children living where
pesticides
are widely used performed significantly worse.

"Children from regions as diverse as Tamil Nadu and Punjab, who have nothing
in
common but their exposure to pesticides, [appear to] share an inability to
perform
simple play-based exercises -- such as catching a ball or assembling a jigsaw
puzzle -- simply because they've been exposed to pesticides over a period of
time,"
says Kavitha Kuruganti, of Greenpeace India.

The researchers noted a significant difference in abilities between the
exposed and
less-exposed children with trends remaining more or less consistent across
different locations and age groups. For example, in Andhra Pradesh, the second
highest pesticide using state, less-exposed children performed a physical
stamina
test for significantly longer periods of time (14.80 seconds longer on average
for
4-5 year old children and 64.50 seconds longer for 9-13 year olds). In Tamil
Nadu,
where cotton production and intensive pesticide use has been common for only
five
years, exposed children aged 4 to 5 years scored nearly 30 percentage points
lower
on a 30 minute memory test, while children aged 9-13 scored only 21 points
lower
than non exposed children.

The findings reinforce an earlier study performed in the Yaqui Valley, a
tobacco
growing region of Mexico, which noted dramatic deficits in brain function in
rural
children with long-term exposure to pesticides. The Greenpeace India study
used an
assessment tool developed for the Yaqui Valley study, adapted to conditions in
India. The assessment involved a series of tests designed for the child to
interpret as normal play, involving mental ability, memory, concentration,
cognitive skills such as drawing, and balance, fine motor and gross motor
coordination.

Researchers pointed out that the study captured the "more insidious effects of
pesticides," reflected in the long term and chronic effects on children's
development. The study concluded, "This is a great cause for concern and alarm
since the very basic right to healthy development is being taken away from
these
children."

In India, cotton occupies less than five per cent of cultivated land, but
represents an estimated 54% of agricultural pesticide use. Organophosphate
pesticides, which affect the central nervous system, are the most commonly
used
class of pesticides used in India. Pesticides such as methyl-parathion and
monocrotophos, classified by the World Health Organization as "highly to
extremely
hazardous to human health" are also produced and used in India. According to
the
United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, these highly toxic
pesticides are
not safe for use in developing countries where access to water, chemical
safety
training and protective equipment may not be available.

Study authors note that routes of exposure to pesticides for the children in
the
study areas are both direct and indirect, given the extensive cotton
cultivation.
Exposures may occur before conception through the impact of pesticides on
sperm, in
utero, via breastmilk, and through residues in food and water, soil and air.
In
many of the study villages, dry cotton stalks are burned for cooking fuel,
releasing pesticide residues in smoke.

The study also looked at pesticide alternatives available in India for cotton
production, including a new system of crop and pesticide management, Non
Pesticidal
Management (NPM) as well as organic cotton production and integrated pest
management (IPM). At the same time the study noted a lack of government
resources
for non chemical agricultural production. Greenpeace India offered a number of
recommendations for government including; greater support to organic farming
(especially for cotton); bans on pesticides restricted in other countries;
stronger
pesticide regulation and holding the pesticide industry responsible for damage
caused by its products. Greenpeace also called on the pesticide industry to
compensate the affected children.

Sources: Arrested Development, Greenpeace, India, Kuruganti, K, Children at
Risk,
Pesticides exposure hinders mental development amongst farmers' children;
Greenpeace releases evidence from nation-wide study,

http://www.greenpeaceindia.org/recentnewsdetails.php?Newstype=subnews&rnid=211;
An
Anthropological Approach to the Evaluation of Preschool Children Exposed to
Pesticides in Mexico, Guillette, E, et al, Environmental Health Perspectives,
Vol
106, No 6: June 1998; PANUPS: Pesticide Exposure May Impair Children's Brain
Function, June 6, 1998,
http://www.panna.org/resources/pestis/PESTIS980608.1.html.

Contact: PANNA

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