Thursday, September 9, 2010 Adecade-long study of women farm
workers in Salinas, published earlier this year in the journal
Pediatrics, shows a link between pesticide exposure and
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in their children.
“When we started,” Field Study Coordinator Celina Trujillo says,
“there were no data as to levels of pesticides in pregnant women
and their children in agricultural communities.” Trujillo, who
works with the Salinas-based Center for the Health Assessment of
Mothers and Children of Salinas, says her group conducted the
investigation in partnership with UC Berkeley. The researchers
recruited 600 pregnant women at local clinics and found
significantly elevated pesticide levels in their blood, Trujillo
says. They’ve followed the women and their children ever since,
zeroing in organophosphates commonly used in the Salinas Valley
on lettuce, broccoli and celery, and almost every other locally
grown crop. Organophosphates were first developed for chemical
warfare because they are