In the United States, approximately 1.2 billion pounds of pesticides are used each year.xix In 2003, the US Center for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) produced a study of the levels of 116 industrial chemicals – including 34
pesticides – in a nationwide survey of 9,282 people.xx This study and a subsequent report by the Pesticide Action
Network of North Americaxiv indicate that CDC found pesticides and/or their breakdown products in 100% of the
people tested. The average person in the US carries at least 13 pesticide chemicals in their body.
Moreover, many of the pesticides found in the test subjects have been linked to serious short- and long-term health
effects including infertility, birth defects and childhood and adult cancers. The reports specified that children,
women and Mexican Americans shoulder the heaviest “pesticide body burden.”
Children - the population most vulnerable to pesticides - are exposed to the highest levels of nerve-damaging
organo-phosphorous pesticides. The CDC data show that the average 6 to 11 year-old sampled is exposed to the
pesticide chlorpyrifos at 4 times the level U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers “acceptable” for a longterm
exposure.
Pesticide Use in Thailand
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The reports showed that women often have significantly higher levels of organo-chlorine pesticides. This class of
pesticides is known to have multiple harmful effects when they cross the placenta during pregnancy, including
reduced infant birth weight and disruption of brain development, which can lead to learning disabilities and other
neuro-behavioral problems.
Mexican Americans were shown to carry dramatically higher body burdens of pesticides and pesticide breakdown
products than other ethnic groups.
In a 2005 studyxxi conducted by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) in collaboration with Commonweal,
researchers at two major laboratories found an average of 200 industrial chemicals and pollutants in umbilical cord
blood from 10 newborn babies. Tests revealed a total of 287 chemicals including dozens of pesticides, plus other
toxic consumer product ingredients and wastes from burning coal, gasoline, and garbage.
Of the 287 chemicals detected in umbilical cord blood, 180 are known to cause cancer in humans or animals, 217
are toxic to the brain and nervous system, and 208 cause birth defects or abnormal development in animal tests. The
study detected 21 different organochlorine pesticides (including, for example, DDT, chlordane, and dieldrin) out of
the 28 tested for in all of the 10 babies. The study detected 7 pesticides that are currently in active use in the US and
14 pesticides that are banned or severely restricted in the US.