Are your children being poisoned?

A recent study released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed that children’s bodies may contain twice the levels of several pesticides compared to adults. Twenty-five hundred people (adults and children) took part in the study that analyzed 116 chemicals in the blood and urine including mercury, lead, uranium, and other ingredients known to the be the by-products of pesticides, insect repellents, plastics, and disinfectants. Dr. Jim Pirkle, deputy directory for science at CDC’s environmental health laboratory said that the children consistently had higher levels of insecticide-related chemicals than adults; in fact children’s levels of one insecticide, chlorpyrifos (sold as Dursban which is used to kill roaches) was twice that of adults. Although Dr. Richard Jackson, the director of CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health said, “Just because a chemical can be measured in blood or urine doesn’t mean that it causes illness or disease”, doesn’t mean parents shouldn’t be cautious. In the near future further research will be conducted to determine the implications of these results.