Pesticides and children.

Prevention and control of damage to health, crops, and property by insects, fungi, and noxious weeds are the major goals of pesticide applications. As with use of any biologically active agent, pesticides have unwanted side-effects. In this review, we will examine the thesis that adverse pesticide effects are more likely to occur in children who are at special developmental and behavioral risk.

Human sperm aneuploidy after exposure to pesticides.

This study examined the effect of paternal environmental exposure to pesticides on the frequency of aneuploidy in human sperm. To determine if the chromosome number in germ cells was altered by paternal exposure, multicolor fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis was utilized to measure aneuploidy frequencies in the sperm of 40 men (20 exposed, 20 controls). Samples were coded for "blind analysis" to eliminate scorer bias.

Male reproductive hormones and thyroid function in pesticide applicators in the Red River Valley of Minnesota.

In the present effort, 144 pesticide applicators and 49 urban control subjects who reported no chronic disease were studied. Applicators provided records of the season's pesticides used by product, volumes, dates, and methods of application. Blood specimens for examination of hormone levels were obtained in summer and fall.

Multi-endpoint biological monitoring of phosphine workers.

The pesticide phosphine (PH(3)) is a suspected carcinogen and a known clastogen which has been shown to produce chromosome damage in agricultural workers. To confirm and extend these results we evaluated 22 phosphine appliers and 26 controls matched for age and smoking status. Two independent methods were used to evaluate exposure: fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) with whole-chromosome paints of chromosomes 1, 2, and 4 labeled in a single color to quantify translocations in peripheral lymphocytes, and the glycophorin A (GPA) assay to quantify phenotypically mutant (NØ or NN) erythrocytes.

Reproductive outcomes in the women of the Red River Valley of the north. I. The spouses of pesticide applicators: pregnancy loss, age at menarche, and exposures to pesticides.

In the current study, there was a modest but significant increase in risk (1.6- to 2-fold) for miscarriages and/or fetal loss occurring throughout the year in the spouses of applicators who use fungicides. There is a surprisingly significant deficit in the number of male children born to the spouses of fungicide applicators.

Birth defects, season of conception, and sex of children born to pesticide applicators living in the Red River Valley of Minnesota, USA.

We previously demonstrated that the frequency of birth defects among children of residents of the Red River Valley (RRV), Minnesota, USA, was significantly higher than in other major agricultural regions of the state during the years 1989-1991, with children born to male pesticide applicators having the highest risk. The present, smaller cross-sectional study of 695 families and 1,532 children, conducted during 1997-1998, provides a more detailed examination of reproductive health outcomes in farm families ascertained from parent-reported birth defects. In the present study, in the first year of life, the birth defect rate was 31.