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According to a new study, prenatal and infant exposure to agricultural pesticides could increase the risk of autism spectrum disorders (ASD).
A group of researchers from the University of California examined the records of 2,961 patients diagnosed with ASD and 35,370 patients with no disorder of the same year of birth and same bad.
Subsequently, researchers entered data from the California Pesticide Use Registry into a GIS tool to examine exposure to 11 common pesticides during pregnancy and in the first year of life. life.
The study found that exposure to many pesticides, such as glyphosate, chlorpyrifos, diazinon, malathion, permethrin, bifenthrin and methyl bromide, increased the risk of developing an ASD. compared to healthy participants.
"This is an observational study that does not establish the cause." Researchers point to some limitations, such as relying on patient records to get details about diagnoses and not being able to examine clinical results, "say the researchers.
"Nevertheless, they claim that their study is by far the largest survey of pesticides and autism spectrum disorders to date and that their findings confirm previous work in this area."
The findings warn about the use of common agricultural pesticides and its potential impact on neurodevelopment, demonstrated by previous research.
"Our findings suggest that the risk of autism spectrum disorder increases with prenatal and infant exposure to several common ambient pesticides that have been shown to affect neurodevelopment in experimental studies."
"Further research should be translational and integrate experimental and epidemiological approaches to further elucidate the mechanisms underlying disease development," the researchers concluded.
The study was published in the British Medical Journal.
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