Posted on 04/30/2016 10:49:49 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A new study suggests a connection between the two
A new study finds a correlation between the aerial spraying of pesticides to kill mosquitoes and an increased risk of developmental delays and autism among kids.
In the new findings, presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies 2016 meeting, researchers looked at the rates of autism and developmental delays from eight zip codes in a region of New York that is exposed to yearly airplane pesticide spraying to prevent mosquito-borne disease like eastern equine encephalitis virus. They compared those to the rates in 16 zip codes where the pesticide spraying doesnt happen. (Other forms of pesticide spraying could still occur, like manual spreading.) They controlled for factors like poverty and gender variation across the zip codes.
The authors report that kids living in zip codes where the spraying was done each summer had around a 25% higher risk of an autism diagnosis or developmental problem compared to kids living in areas without the aerial spraying. Several studies have previously reported links between pesticide and autism risk, says Dr. Steve Hicks, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Penn State College of Medicine in an email to TIME. Our data suggests the way in which pesticides are applied might play some role. Studies of pesticides in animal models show they can affect certain neurotransmitters in the brain, but their exact molecular effects on brain development are still being explored.
The study only shows a correlation between the two and does not show that aerial pesticide spraying causes autism.
(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...
“......we all jumped on our bicycles and chased it.”
Yep...same thing here. Ahh, the good ol’ days.
Anything involving Pediatrics has to be closely examined. This is because the extremely leftist American Pediatric Association is far less interested in caring for children than it is to advance the leftist agenda.
The Pediatric Academic Societies meeting is sponsored in part by them, but also by their competitor, the “conservative” American Academy of Pediatrics (who put caring for children first, practicing medicine instead of politics), and others.
So who is behind this “study”? If it is the APA, it is likely a scam. The left are firm believers in corrupting science for their political ends.
In the 1950’s we would walk behind the truck and stand in the fog. Couldn’t ride a bicycle cause we could not see anything. It was that thick. None of my friends with me suffered any kind of problems supposedly related to pesticide spray.
DDT is an endocrine disruptor which means it is linked to a higher rate of birth defects, diabetes, reproductive disorders and breast cancer etc especially from early life (prenatal and childhood) exposure. Whether controlled indoor spraying can save more lives used as a disease vector control in the third world is an open question but pretending that there is absolutely no risk to human health is as unscientific and politically motivated as the hysteria employed against it.
We would chase it too. Every single time it came to our neighborhood. Big kids and little kids. We would inhale as much as we could. No deleterious effects that I know of. The only effect we encountered were mosquito-free summers. Those were wonderful.
DDT was never an issue with birth defects. The most serious issue with DDT was when it was inappropriately overused as a general crop insecticide (instead of being used in targeted pests such as mosquitoes) that it accumulated in the top of the avian food chain (raptors) and caused thinning of their egg shells.
DDT was manufactured as an environmental boogeyman by the Left. If you do a web search for DDT and birt defects, you will see a commonality in those websites mentioning it.
DDT could have save hundreds of thousands, if not millions of lives world-wide (disproportionally young and poor) if guidelines in the use of DDT had been enforced rather than having it outright banned.
The upside from DDT as a targeted pest control far, Far, FAR outweighs any role, real or imagined than any role it plays as an endocrine disruptor.
It isn’t even close.
Bring back DDT.
Even Nat Geo (July 2007) admits it’s effective and that the “Silent Spring” claims were bogus.
Except it did not even do that.
The thinning was more then likely because of mercury and it started long before they were spraying with DDT and was in decline before they stopped.
In the studies they did more eggs hatched when their parents were exposed to DDT then if they were not. It was not until they hit on feeding the birds a low calcium diet that they were able to get the egg shell thinning that they were trying to get.
DDT is harmless to life forms that have an endoskeleton system
One thing to keep in mind is that the “increased” rates of autism and ADHD is due to funding. Psychiatric disorders were not originally treated as medical problems. Hence, no medicare or insurance money flowing into that field, except in the extremist of circumstances.
This changed by statute and the money is flowing in, which is why every “problem kid” in school winds up with a “label” from the school nurse, who is basically a social worker, not a psychiatrist.
So just because someone got slapped w/”autism” (actually ASD = autism spectrum disorder) or ADHD, be dubious. After the school counselor, you see the doc, and they say “there’s a drug for that”. They prescribe it and get paid. Since getting paid is now “easy” (insurance and gov accepts it) you see more diagnosis.
To attempt to correlate anything to incidence of ASDs or ADHD is foolish as it presumes that the diagnosis is accurate.
As these, along w/depression, are some of the most misdiagnosed problems around, you can pretty much immediately discount any study attempting to determine a causal relation.
Read “Brain Matters”...there’s some thinking/research that brain diseases are linked to our stomachs...bacteria good & bad
I certainly don’t want to DDT residue in imported food. Its use is really only justifiable as a last resort where greater health problems are being spread by mosquitoes or insects, where the mosquitoes aren’t resistant, and no other effective control is practical.
Is it possible we threw away the one truly safe pesticide, (DDT), and the substitutes are causing problems?
I knew running behind the DDT truck and feeling the cool spray on my body back in 1956, and spraying myself down with Military grade DDT insect killer to keep mosquitoes in SE Asia away would soon “ketch up wiff me!”
I have strong teeth, strong bones, slight loss of hearing and vision, able to still do a day’s work, fix fence, play with the dogs and cats.
I blame it all on DDT! Where is my reparations!
***and a 6 year old with severe behavioral issues.***
My Moma found a switch from a tree cures that real fast! A belt also works!
“endocrine disruptor.”
Do you even know what that phrase means?
There are some reports indicating that autism did not rise until the early 80’s yet vaccines have been around since the early 70’s. Some people are linking autism to the surge in “fat free” diets in the 80’s.
Diagnosis is what’s causing it. Used to be kids were just a PITA, some were rambunctious, some were withdrawn, now all those various forms of being “odd” have a diagnosis. The definitions of autism and ADHD have increased DRAMATICALLY. Soon everybody will be something.
Thanks to the anti-vax brigade, there will be many more, and soon.
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