A study shows that exposure in the womb to pesticides known as organophosphates may increase the chance that children, especially boys, may develop attention problems by age 5. The research got published in Environmental Health Perspectives.

More than 300 children were followed by researchers who participated in the Center for the Health Assessment of Mothers and Children of Salinas (CHAMACOS) study. The aim of the study was to find out how exposure to organophosphate pesticides affects reproductive health.

The children involved in the study lived in agricultural Salinas Valley, California. They had a higher than average exposure to the organophosphate pesticides studied.

Study researcher Amy Marks, MPH, a research analyst at the University of California at Berkeley’s School of Public Health during the study said, “It is worth looking at this more carefully and conducting more research on this topic since low-level exposure to pesticides and pesticide residues in food is quite common.”

Virginia A. Rauh, ScD, deputy director of the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health in New York City, said in an email, “ The findings provide another critical piece of evidence linking prenatal exposure to organophosphate pesticides with ADHD problems, demonstrating the persistence of adverse effects well into the preschool years.”