Maternal-child exposure via the placenta to environmental chemical substances"

A new study reveals that some pesticides banned in many EU countries but still being used in Spain, are causing disorders in unborn children.


The analysis was developed at San Cecilio University Hospital , in Granada, with 308 women who had given birth to healthy children between 2000 and 2002. The results are alarming: 100% of these pregnant women had at least one pesticide in their placenta, but the average rate amounts to eight different kinds of chemical substances.The most common was a compound knows as DDE, which results from ingestion of DDT, a pesticide that has been banned for decades in Spain and Europe.

According to María José López -the author of the doctoral thesis "Maternal-child exposure via the placenta to environmental chemical substances with hormonal activity" and the leader of the research team- during the gestation period, all the contaminants accumulated in the organism have direct access to the microenvironment where the embryo/foetus develops.

EPHA related articles:

- Chemicals and Pesticides

- Organic diets lower children’s exposure to pesticides some pesticides

- New report from Pesticide Action Network

- Annual Analysis of Pesticides in Fruit and Vegetables

Last modified on February 28 2007.