Subject: Agricultural Pesticides Linked to Fetal Death
Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2001 17:50:26 -0500
From: Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization: Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)
To: Paul Helliker <phelliker@cdpr.ca.gov>
Director, State
of California, Department of Pesticide Regulation
cc: Christine Whitman whitman.christine@epa.gov
Dear Mr. Helliker,
I thought you might like to read an article dated Tuesday February 13
10:17 AM ET, entitled: Agricultural Pesticides Linked to Fetal Death By Keith
Mulvihill.
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Pregnant women living close
to farms where pesticides are sprayed on fields may have an increased risk of
having a fetus die due to birth defects, according to a report.
However, lead author Dr. Erin M. Bell cautions that
``this is an area of research that will require further investigation.'' Bell
completed the research while at the University of North Carolina School of
Public Health, Chapel Hill, and is currently at the National Cancer Institute
(news - web sites) in Bethesda, Maryland.
``Future research will need to define actual exposures to
pesticides and their effect on particular time periods during a woman's
pregnancy,'' she said in an interview with Reuters Health.
In the study, Bell and colleagues evaluated 1984 data
from 10 California counties. At that time the law required that applications
of certain pesticides be reported to the state. The investigators identified
73 women who had a fetus die due to heart malformations, anencephaly (a
condition in which parts of the brain or spinal cord are missing), or other
problems.
This group of women was compared with 611 women who gave
birth to infants with no birth defects, and both groups of women were matched
to data on pesticide applications in their area. The findings are published in
the March issue of the journal Epidemiology.
``We found a slight increase of fetal death due to birth
defects when pesticides were applied near where the pregnant women lived,''
Bell said.
The timing of the exposure played an important role, Bell
noted. If the women were exposed during the 3rd and 8th week of pregnancy--the
point when the fetal organs are forming--the fetus seemed to be the most
vulnerable to the effects of pesticide exposure.
``The association increased for women living within 1
mile of the field where pesticide application occurred,'' Bell told Reuters
Health. However, the researchers were unable to directly measure the women's
exposure to the pesticides.
``Our exposure classification method did not guarantee
that a mother was, in fact, exposed, because wind and weather conditions, hour
of application and the location of the mother at the time of the application
are all factors that would determine actual exposure,'' Bell and colleagues
write.
More study is needed to confirm the association, the
authors conclude.
SOURCE: Epidemiology 2001;22:148-156.
Well Mr. Helliker,
Anyone who has ever sprayed any of your "registered" POISONS
can tell you that the first thing the applicator observes, is that the gravid
(pregnant) roaches cast their egg cases whenever they are exposed to your
volatile TOXINS. Is it so
"strange" that other living organisms including pregnant women
spontaneously abort whenever they are also exposed?
Respectfully, Stephen
L. Tvedten
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