Study suggests aerial pesticide spraying tied to higher autism rates
Children living in an area of New York state that uses aerial pesticides to control mosquitoes have a higher rate of autism than children in neighboring areas, a new study finds.
Researchers found that children living in a swampy region in central New York were 25 percent more likely to have been diagnosed with autism or general developmental delay, compared to children in other parts of the state.
However, the findings do not prove that aerial pesticides raise the risk of autism, stressed lead researcher Dr. Steven Hicks, a pediatrician at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, in Hershey, Pa.
This study really brings up more questions than answers, he said. We need more research before taking any public action on pesticide use.
One reason for restraint, Hicks noted, is that communities spray for mosquitoes to help prevent potentially severe mosquito-borne diseases, such as West Nile virus. Still, the study isnt the first to find a possible link between pesticides and autism rates, Hicks said.
He pointed to a study that made the news two years ago. California researchers found that pregnant women who lived within a mile of pesticide-treated crops were slightly more likely to have a child with autism, compared to women who lived farther from the treated fields. The implicated chemicals in the California study belonged to a group known as pyrethroid pesticides, Hicks noted.
HealthDay
