\n\tIt's been more than a few years now, but I remember the roller coaster ride of pregnancy like it was yesterday. Nine months of bouncing from giddy excitement to mind-bending worry, pure joy to frantic nesting. Powerful emotions are amplified by equally powerful hormones, working overtime.<\/p>\n
\n\tAs scientists report yet again<\/a> this week, those churning hormones also make exposure to pesticides during pregnancy especially dangerous. Birth defects, autism<\/a>, lower IQ<\/a>, reduced birth weight, infertility<\/a> — the risk of these life-changing impacts is higher for infants conceived during spray season or carrying pesticides in their cordblood. Yikes.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \n\tIt turns out certain chemicals have a knack for confusing the hormones that guide a fetus through the delicate process of development. These 'endocrine disruptors' may be especially damaging for boys<\/a>, harming development of the brain and reproductive systems of male infants at a slightly higher rate.<\/p>\n \n\tOne of the studies just out includes a bit of good news along with the bad. According to the Centers for Disease Control, levels of organochlorine pesticides in our bodies<\/a> are much lower than they were 30 years ago. This shows that policy changes matter — these pesticides were phased out decades ago in most countries, and the bans are making a difference.<\/p>\n \n\tThe bad news? The chemicals in question last for so long in the environment and our bodies that we're still passing them along — more than a generation later — to infants during pregnancy. And it doesn't take much to cause problems.<\/p>\n \n\tScientists report in the journal Pediatrics<\/em> that infants born with slightly higher levels of any of 4 organochlorine pesticides<\/a> in their cordblood weighed less<\/a>, and those with elevated levels of DDT had a smaller head circumference. Researchers examined nearly 500 newborns in Valencia, Spain between 2003 and 2006.<\/p>\n \n\tBut it's not just yesterday's pesticides causing trouble. Syngenta's atrazine<\/a> is one of the most widely used herbicides in the U.S. today, applied mostly in corn fields. Back in 2009, researchers found that babies conceived during atrazine spray season<\/a> are more likely to suffer a range of birth defects.<\/p>\n \n\tNow researchers in Indiana are finding that a rare birth defect called 'gastroschisis'<\/a> shows up more often among babies conceived when atrazine levels are high. Gastroschisis causes an infant's intestines to grow outside the body; while survival rates are higher than they used to be, ongoing medical care can cost a family upwards of $150,000 a year.<\/p>\n \n\tA similar study in Washington state<\/a> found women living near atrazine-contaminated water were more likely to have a baby with gastroschisis — again, with the risk especially high if the pregnancy started in spring.<\/p>\n \n\tThis story has a good news side too: there's something we can do about it. PAN is collecting signatures on a letter to the CEO of Syngenta<\/a>, demanding that the company pay attention to recent evidence that their flagship herbicide causes birth defects and other harm.<\/p>\n \n\tDespite a growing mountain of science to the contrary, Syngenta continues to call concerns about the health effects of atrazine 'alarmist.' On behalf of moms everywhere, please sign on today<\/a> and help set them straight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It's been more than a few years now, but I remember the roller coaster ride of pregnancy like it was yesterday. Nine months of bouncing from giddy excitement to mind-bending worry, pure joy to frantic nesting. Powerful emotions are amplified by equally powerful hormones, working…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":29771,"template":"","blog_tag":[],"pan_blog_type":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panna.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pan_blog\/38076"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panna.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pan_blog"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panna.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/pan_blog"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panna.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.panna.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pan_blog\/38076\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panna.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panna.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"blog_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panna.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog_tag?post=38076"},{"taxonomy":"pan_blog_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panna.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pan_blog_type?post=38076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n\tDoesn't take much in cordblood<\/h3>\n
\n\tAtrazine linked to rare birth defect<\/h3>\n
\n\tHey Syngenta, pay attention!<\/h3>\n