More pesticides—less children?

Abstract

A previously presented study investigated the impact of recent pesticide exposure on cytological signs of genotoxicity and on symptoms of intoxication in 71 male coffee workers in the Dominican Republic. An unexpected finding of this study was that conventional farming workers, among other symptoms, reported fewer children than controls working in organic farms without pesticide use. This study set out to investigate possible reasons for the latter difference. One statistical problem of this analysis is that the age of the workers is a strong predictor for the number of children and available data on the exposure determinants "duration of pesticide exposure" as well as "age at first pesticide exposure" are correlated with age. To correctly control statistics for these confounding parameters, different approaches to best control for age were explored. After careful elimination of the age-related confounding factors, a reduced number of children was still observed in exposed workers. The clearest effect is seen in those workers that reported first exposure before the age of 20 years. Socioeconomic factors could still confound that finding, but a direct effect of early life pesticide exposure is the most likely explanation of the observation.

Health Symptoms Related to Pesticide Use in Farmers and Laborers of Ecological and Conventional Banana Plantations in Ecuador

“…This might be typical for workers in banana plantations where often high amounts of fungicides like chlorothalonil are used [50], but also other symptoms and diseases are associated with aerial spraying of fungicides [51]. In another article, we reported that pesticide workers sired fewer children, especially when their pesticide exposure started at young age [52]. Interestingly, also in our current study, the pesticide workers reported (insignificantly) fewer children on average but the overall number of children was lower in the participants from Ecuador than from the D.R., maybe due to cultural influences.…”

Mediterranean Diet as a Shield against Male Infertility and Cancer Risk Induced by Environmental Pollutants: A Focus on Flavonoids

“…In addition, "organic" (i.e., cultivated based on agroecological criteria) foods, due to a higher content in bioactive compounds in comparison to conventional ones, has been suggested as an additional safeguard for counteracting the effects of environmental pollutants [68]. In this direction, the typical foods of the Mediterranean diet, when they are organically cultivated, should have a significantly reduced content of pesticides [69,70], whereas they are expected to contain higher concentrations of their natural occurring beneficial phytochemicals including polyphenols [71], flavonoids [72], carotenoids [73] and macro-and micro-nutrients such as vitamin C, iron, magnesium, phosphorus and omega-3 fatty acid [74]. Therefore, the environmentally friendly cultivation procedures endorsed by agroecology can maintain a higher content of bioactive compounds, compared to conventional foods.…”