Neurodevelopmental Disorders and Agricultural Pesticide Exposures

1The Dow Chemical Company, Midland, Michigan, USA; 2Environmental & Turf Services, Inc., Wheaton, Maryland, USA; 3Bayer CropScience, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA About This Article open Citation: Burns CJ, Cohen SZ, Lunchick C. 2015. Neurodevelopmental disorders and agricultural pesticide exposures. Environ Health Perspect 123:A79; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1409124 E-mail: cjburns@dow.com C.J.B. and C.L. are employees of companies that manufacture and sell pesticides. S.Z.C. owns an environmental consulting firm that includes among its clients pesticide users and producers, as well as those impacted by pesticide users and producers. Final Publication: 1 April 2015 PDF Version (87 KB) We read with interest the analysis by Shelton et al. (2014) of the relationships between maternal proximity to insecticide application and autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and developmental delay (DD) in children. Although we commend the investigators’ efforts to identify, recruit, and enroll parents of children with ASDs or DD, absent is any confirmation of exposures or that the active ingredients drifted onto the residences or were inhaled or ingested, let alone at dose levels that might be adverse to the fetus (Williams and DeSesso 2014). The authors noted other sources of potential exposure, including diet and nonagricultural applications that were unmeasured in their assessment. However, there are many factors that reduce the opportunity for participant ...
Source: EHP Research - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Tags: Correspondence April 2015 Source Type: research