Pesticides could be a major cause of the alarming rise in ADHD (attention deficit hyperactive disorder) in our children. The worrying factor about the latest study is that the children who were monitored were not all living in farms or in rural areas. Some of the 1,139 children who participated in the study were from urban areas, which suggest that the pesticides – and especially the organophosphates – are in the air we breathe, as well as on the foods we eat. Previous studies have found that pesticides may contribute to hyperactivity and cognitive problems in animals, but the new study, from the University of Montreal and Harvard University, is one of the first to demonstrate that it affects humans, too. (Source:Pediatrics, 2010. doi: 10.1542/peds.2009-3058).
