Rural living isn’t what it used to be. The fields of green where our country’s crops flourish have slowly been changing over the years because of demands to increase yields, and the air quality (and those who breath it) are being affected. According to a recent article in The Nation, more than 1 billion pounds of pesticides including weed killers, insecticides, and fungicide are now used in the United States each year, possibly posing a serious risk to the health and intellect of people working and living in proximity to fields.
Worries about how these pesticides affect the human brain are leading way to studies of how many of us—even newborns—may harbor detectable levels of pesticides in our bodies. Read on about an ongoing study of several hundred women farm workers and their children in the Salinas Valley that may be leading researchers to link pesticide use and developmental problems.
