As a parent of a child with severe ADHD, the link between pesticides and the disease is old news to me. I’ve had to live with the likelihood that, as a licensed pesticide applicator in the early 1990s, I unwittingly brought poisons into my home from the moment my child was conceived in 1992, until I stopped applying them in 1994.
Just today the Internet and my email In-box is abuzz with the news of a report from U.S. and Canadian doctors that suggests a strong link between pesticides and ADHD. The report focuses on pesticides on food, but the reality is that pesticides are pesticides — whether they’re applied to strawberries or your dandelions.
According to the National Academy of Sciences, homeowners use up to 10 times more pesticides per acre than farmers apply to their fields. And, no, we don’t eat our lawns — but our kids and pets do roll around on the grass. Pesticides can enter our children’s bodies through the eyes, ears, skin and mouth.
“Pesticides that are applied to the lawn don’t stay on the lawn,” said the noted pediatrician, Dr. Alan Greene, in the movie A Chemical Reaction.
Think about that the next time you consider hiring a lawn care service or purchasing a bag of weed ‘n feed at the local garden center.
May 18th, 2010 at 9:28 am
What really bothers me is that people will still find excuses as to how this study doesn’t apply to their family, or how they’ve got to keep our property value high, etc. My jaw just drops when people tell me how they put property value over their families’ health. I’m like, “Do you even give a damn about your kids or grandkids?!”