Thaindian News

By Meena Kar
May 18, (THAINDIAN NEWS) A latest U.S. study report released on Monday has linked the attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to the consumption or exposure to a pesticide known as organophosphates. The researchers who have carried out the study have urged parent to wash vegetables along with other raw products thoroughly before consumption. The researchers have said that the consumption of the pesticide increases the risk of suffering from this disease by at least two folds.

The Harvard School of Public Health researcher Mark Weisskopf who had carried out the research work along with his associates said that they collected samples and data from 1,139 children who were aged between 8 and 15 years. The group then studied the pesticide breakdown products in the urine of the children. The study revealed that the children who have high levels of pesticide concentration in their urine were most likely to develop ADHD. The researchers questioned the caretaker and the parents of the children who had undergone the test and found that one of ten children showed symptoms of ADHD.

The study is alarming as the children selected for the test did not belong to a single community or a single locality, but were selected from the general mass of American children who have apparently no source of direct exposure to the chemicals. The study thus shows the vulnerability of children to the pesticide and its effects. Pointing to this fact Mark Weisskopf said that the study shows that even a negligible amount of the pesticide can cause ADHD. However, the study does not have any information about the source of the breakdown product that the researchers have found in the urine of the children, but guess that these can be most likely the insecticide and the pesticide chemicals that are used indoors and in different produces.