Twenty-year study links pesticide, depression

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Using data collected since the mid-1990s, scientists at the U.S. National Institutes of Health have found a connection between the use of certain pesticides and mental health issues, Modern Farmer reports.

The study, which follows approximately 84,000 farmers and spouses of farmers, found that people exposed to organochlorine insecticides are 90 per cent more likely to face depression. Fumigants in turn increase the risk of depression by 80 per cent.

Dr. Freya Kamel, lead researcher on the study, told Modern Farmer: "I don't think there's anything surprising about the fact that pesticides would affect neurologic function." Melanie Forti, a member of a farmer advocacy group in Washington, D.C., told the online publication Vice: "We don't know exactly how much exposure is needed to harm people, too, but we know that it's an issue."

A spokesperson for the Environmental Protection Agency told independent newspaper Truthout that, of the seven specific pesticides linked to depression, only three are still in use, though currently under review. BF