EPA Sued for reversing ban on pesticide

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On Wednesday, the Pesticide Action Network and the Natural Resources Defense Council filed a complaint against the EPA, led by Trump appointee Scott Pruitt, asking a federal court to make the agency follow through on an Obama-era recommendation to ban chlorpyrifos, a pesticide linked to brain damage in children. The Trump administration reversed that recommendation last week — even though the EPA concluded in November that the pesticide is associated with autism, lowered intelligence, developmental delays, and attention deficit disorders.

"Conclusions: This study of ASD strengthens the evidence linking neurodevelopmental disorders with gestational pesticide exposures, particularly organophosphates, and provides novel results of ASD and DD associations with, respectively, pyrethroids and carbamates."

"Despite the limitations, Grandjean adds, “The researchers must be praised for having been able to link data on pesticide usage to geocoded residences during pregnancy.” Joseph Braun, an assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology at Brown University, describes the work as “the cutting edge of research into environmental determinants of autism.” Braun also was not involved in the study.

Despite the study’s limitations, it provides new directions for exploration. “Until about five years ago, virtually all research on autism assumed that the disease was entirely genetic in origin, and that environmental exposures did not play a role,” says Robert Wright, director of the Division of Environmental Health at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, who was not involved in the research. “Rising rates of autism and failure to find genetic causes despite a multitude of very large genetic studies has led to a major shift in focus in the field. … These chemicals are a solid lead that needs to be followed.”"

"Pregnant women who live near areas where agricultural pesticides are applied experience a higher risk of delivering children with autism or other developmental delays, a UC Davis study has found.
The study, published today in the periodical Environmental Health Perspectives, found that mothers who lived within roughly one mile of where pesticides were applied were found to have a 60 percent higher risk of having children with any of the spectrum of autism disorders, such as Asperger’s syndrome.
The study is the latest in a growing body of research exploring links between the environment and the development of autism.
The results are no small matter for the Central Valley, which receives most of the 200 million pounds of agricultural pesticides applied annually in California.
In Sacramento County, roughly 3,100 public school students have been diagnosed as autistic. The autistic population in the county has risen sevenfold since 2000, according to the California Department of Education.
The study, conducted by a team of researchers at UC Davis’ MIND Institute, is unique for its use of a large state case group of children confirmed as having autism spectrum disorder and developmental delays, said lead researcher Janie Shelton.
The subjects were part of research called the Childhood Autism Risks from Genetics and Environment study. A total of 970 participants were used in the study – with the emphasis on whether proximity to pesticide applications affected children before birth."