Mercola.com

According to a study, residents in the United States were found to carry harmful levels of pesticides in their bodies, with children, women and Mexican Americans disproportionately exposed to the chemicals.

A study analyzed information on over 2,648 people who were tested for levels of 34 different kinds of pesticides.

The study involved blood and urine tests, which revealed a large amount of people carried levels of pesticides that were considered unsafe by the government health and environmental agencies.

Children ages 6 to 11 in the study had been exposed to chlorpyrifos, a pesticide designed to kill insects by altering the nervous system, and had four times the level considered safe by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Experts stated these results were evidence of the failure to protect people from toxic pesticides and it presented the need to find new methods of controlling insects in agriculture and all other areas.

It was also discovered that the average person observed in the study carried 13 of the 23 pesticides in their body.

Researchers said that pesticides have been associated with serious health conditions such as infertility, birth defects and cancer.

Researchers also stated that pesticides got into people’s systems through ingesting air, water and food.

They suggested that manufacturers of the pesticides be held responsible for causing financial and health-related problems.

Recommendations by the study included an investigation by Congress into the corporate liability for pesticide contamination and an EPA ban on the use of dangerous pesticides.

USA Today May 11, 2004