Widely used as a home insecticide, permethrin can be as dangerous to a child’s brain as lead, reports Pediatrics.
Organophosphate insecticides were withdrawn from use in 2000-2001 because they were detrimental to the mental development of children. They were replaced by pyrethroids, although there has been no long-term research into these chemicals. The most commonly used is permethrin.
Only now have researchers at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health found a significant link between the amount of piperonyl butoxide (PBO), often added to pyrethroids, in maternal air – and mental retardation at 36 months of age. The level of PBO is an indicator of the level of pyrethroids, especially the most commonly used permethrin – the insecticide itself is difficult to detect in the air, because it settles quickly, and quickly decomposes in body fluids.
The study looked at 725 pregnant women from the Bronx and Manhattan wearing small backpacks with an air sampling device. When the children were born, the level of their mental and motor development was tested at the age of 3.
PBO was detected in the majority of samples taken (75%), and children exposed to the highest levels of pyrethroids during pregnancy had 3,9 points poorer IQ test scores than those whose mothers breathed cleaner air. Similarly, lead is harmful to children’s intelligence. However, as specialists point out, further research is needed to verify these results.