The Scientific Connection Between Pesticides & Birth Defects

People are taking sides in the debate focusing on connection between pesticides and birth defects.

The question of whether pregnant women who live and/or work around high levels of pesticide use, particularly on Kauai’s Westside, should be concerned about birth defects continues to be a contentious topic for debate, but the science is mounting against agribusinesses. Chemical companies have relocated to Hawai‘i, and where sugar cane and pineapples once grew, one can now find corn fields that are regularly sprayed with large doses of pesticides.

What is Science Saying?

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, “epidemiologic evidence demonstrates associations between early exposure to pesticides and pediatric cancers, decreased cognitive function, and behavioral problems.” Likewise, a study looking at agrichemicals in surface water and birth defects in the United States found that a significant association was found between the season of elevated agrochemicals and birth defects.” Physicians at Kauai Veterans Memorial Hospital, on Kauai’s Westside, believe there may be up to “10 times the national rate” of certain rare birth defects in newborns delivered at the hospital.

While agrochemical companies that use, manufacture, and sell pesticides tout that there is no evidence of a higher incidence of birth defects on Kauai or anywhere in Hawai‘i, it must be noted that these companies have a vested interest in ensuring their profits and protecting themselves from potential litigation.

The State Department of Health (SDOH) has found evidence of pesticide drift (when pesticides sprayed over crops become airborne and are blown by the wind away from the intended agricultural field) when testing. In addition, when testing streams on Kauai, SDOH found atrazine and glyphosate, and when testing the air at Waimea Canyon Middle School, they found chlorpyrifos, a Restricted Use Pesticide and known neurotoxin. While the amounts found were small, the point is that there should be none at all.

It should also be noted that in Hawai‘i, those who apply Restricted Use Pesticides in fields near communities, parks, schools, and roadways, are not required to disclose which pesticides they are applying, the location, date or time, in which they are applied. This is all data that can be utilized when trying to make an informed decision regarding one’s health.

How can Galiher DeRobertis & Waxman Help?

Galiher DeRobertis & Waxman has been receiving increased attention as a result of our commitment to fighting for families with pesticide related birth defects. While we are not doctors, our lawyers work with highly-qualified scientific and medical professionals to determine if a reported birth defect is related to a parent’s exposure to pesticides. Our lawyers are experts in successfully representing families injured by defective products and corporate negligence. We provide free initial consultations and will meet with you to evaluate your claim with no obligation on your part. If your child has pesticide-related birth defects, he or she may have a claim against the company responsible for that pesticide exposure. Please get in touch with us for a free case evaluation at 1-866-998-TOXIC (6942) and learn more about your legal options. Our team will begin working immediately and aggressively to obtain the best result for your case.

The Hawai‘ian Problem with Increased Pesticides and Pregnancy

Study shows direct connection between pesticide exposure and risks beyond poor pregnancy outcomes.

According to a recent study, women who ate more fruits and vegetables containing high amounts of pesticide residue were less likely to get pregnant or have a live birth following infertility treatments. In comparison with women who ate less than one serving per day of high pesticide residue fruits and vegetables, women who ate two to six daily servings had an 18% lower probability of clinical pregnancy and a 26% lower probability of live birth.

How Pesticides Enter Our Bodies

Fruits and vegetables provide vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and other necessary nutrients to the general population, but according to an article published in a January 2018 issue of JAMA Internal Medicine , fruits and vegetables  also serve as the primary way that pesticides enter the human body. Studies have in fact shown that some agricultural pesticides have harmful effects on the body including decreased fertility, spontaneous abortion, stillbirth, and developmental abnormalities.

In an editorial, Philip Landrigan, MD, of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, said, “The observations made in this study send a warning that our current laissez-faire attitude toward the regulation of pesticides is failing us. We can no longer afford to assume that new pesticides are harmless until they are definitively proven to cause injury to human health.” Dr. Landrigan goes on to emphasize the importance of truly understanding the pesticide industry and how it works and strengthening requirements for both pre- and post-market testing of how these pesticides affect the human body.

Pesticides do not only enter the body through direct consumption, however. While sprayed pesticides land on directly-specified crops, pesticide drift can result in pesticides traveling beyond the confines of the intended crops.

Pesticides and the Community

Agricultural companies are big business in Hawai‘i. According to the Hawai‘i Crop Improvement Association, the agricultural industry accounts for $260+ million of the state’s GDP. However, the pesticides that the companies utilize on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) such as corn and soybeans, have the potential to affect anyone who lives, works, or plays in close proximity to the agricultural area. Exposure to these pesticides can result in birth defects in children whose parents were exposed through pesticide drift and ground water contamination.

Workers with occupational exposure to pesticides have a significantly greater exposure rate than the rest of the population. Farmworkers in particular depend on farm owners and labor contractors to provide a safe working environment for them in which to work. The United States requires that pesticides with the highest toxicity potency known as “restricted use” pesticides only be handled by people with certification in the safe handling of these chemicals. Migrant and/or seasonal workers rarely have sufficient training with these chemicals, and as such, are often disproportionately affected by the adverse health effects of these restricted pesticides. In turn, their children run the increased risk of birth defects related to toxic exposure.

Pesticides can be breathed, absorbed through the skin, or ingested from food or water.  Any which way, there is the possibility of damaging the mother’s or father’s chromosomes and leading to abnormal DNA in the baby if parental exposure occurs before or soon after conception. Pesticides used in Kauai, Maui, and other neighboring islands have been linked to the following birth defects:

  • Serious cardiac conditions or heart defects
  • Limb abnormalities and missing limbs
  • Spina bifida (birth defect of the spine and spinal cord)
  • Gastroschisis (birth defect of the abdominal)

The DIY Phenomenon with the Potential to Kill

There’s more than meets the eye to home renovations that lead to unintentional asbestos exposure.

You work. You spend years saving. You’re finally able to move into a home of your own. One unsuspecting afternoon there’s a fire with significant damage. You’re then told that your house is filled with asbestos. This is what happened to an Australian couple after living in the home that they had personally renovated.

They lived there from 1988 to 2015. During that time, they had ripped out the kitchen, redone the bathroom, and rebuilt the veranda. In March of this year, the wife was diagnosed with peritoneal mesothelioma, a highly aggressive tumor caused by asbestos exposure. Like many families across the world, this Melbourne, Australia couple was completely unaware of the asbestos looming beneath the floors, walls, and ceiling of their home.

What is Asbestos?

In the United States, houses built prior to the 1970s likely contain some building materials composed of asbestos, which is hazardous when it’s broken or worn out and the fibers are released. It is estimated that as much as two-thirds of the asbestos installed in the 1940s 1950s and 1960s is now reaching the end of its lifetime. When inhaled, the fibers lodge themselves into the outside membrane of the lungs and abdomen. The main types of disease that result from exposure are:

  1. Asbestosis – permanent scarring of the lungs
  2. Lung cancer – asbestos related tumors affecting the lungs
  3. Malignant mesothelioma – cancer of the membrane covering the lungs and lining of the abdomen

All three diseases can take between 20 and 40 years to develop after exposure to asbestos. Because the initial symptoms (shortness of breath or a swollen abdomen from fluid build-up) are also seen in other common illnesses, mesothelioma is frequently misdiagnosed.

While many consider asbestos “yesterday’s story,” a cancer limited to old men who toiled in mines or dusty asbestos factories, the truth is that asbestos is still affecting people around the world today.

The first wave of victims, mostly miners and heavy industry workers who were exposed to asbestos on a daily basis, are, sadly, almost all dead. The second wave – tradesmen, construction workers, insulators, mechanics, and navy personnel – were mainly exposed before the 1980s.

Today, many of the new victims – a wider and younger range of sufferers – have been exposed during home renovation work. They are sometimes known as the third wave of sufferers.

How to Handle Your Residential Renovation

If you are planning on renovating your home yourself, you should consider hiring a licensed asbestos expert to inspect your home and arrange for removal of any hazardous asbestos-containing material for you. Should you hire a contractor to perform the work, or if you work for a contractor, it is important to make sure that proper procedures are followed to avoid potential asbestos exposure to you or your family. According to a 1980 NIOSH-OSHA report, there is no safe level of asbestos exposure.

Australia recently commemorated their National Asbestos Week. It is a reminder to us all across the world that, we must remain informed and vigilant about taking precaution when it comes to asbestos.