By Kathryn Doyle
NEW YORK
(Reuters Health) - In a new study from California, children with an
autism spectrum disorder were more likely to have mothers who lived
close to fields treated with certain pesticides during pregnancy.
Proximity to agricultural pesticides in pregnancy was also linked to other types of developmental delay among children.
“Ours
is the third study to specifically link autism spectrum disorders to
pesticide exposure, whereas more papers have demonstrated links with
developmental delay,” said lead author Janie F. Shelton, from the
University of California, Davis.
There
needs to be more research before scientists can say that pesticides
cause autism, she told Reuters Health in an email. But pesticides all
affect signaling between cells in the nervous system, she added, so a
direct link is plausible.
California
is one of only a few states in the U.S. where agricultural pesticide
use is rigorously reported and mapped. For the new study, the
researchers used those maps to track exposures during pregnancy for the
mothers of 970 children.
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