A large U.S. cohort study has concluded that prenatal exposure to organophosphate pesticides does not correlate with autism-related traits, providing new evidence amidst ongoing debates over chemical safety and child development.
A large U.S. cohort study has found no evidence that prenatal exposure to organophosphate pesticides is associated with autism-related traits in children, adding fresh data to a long-running scientific debate over a common class of farm and food-related chemicals.
The research, published in JAMA Pediatrics, analysed 3,339 mother-child pairs from the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes cohort, a pooled study drawing on 20 research sites. Investigators measured two urinary biomarkers used to estimate exposure during pregnancy and then compared those results with children’s scores on the Social Responsiveness Scale, a standard parent-reported measure of behaviours linked with autism.
Children in the study were assessed between the ages of 2 and 19, with a mean age of 6.4 years when the scale was completed. The analysis found that any apparent relationship between pesticide biomarkers and autism-related scores disappeared after full adjustment for social, demographic and behavioural factors. The findings also held up in sex-stratified and sensitivity analyses, and the researchers reported no sign that maternal diet altered the outcome.
That result adds to earlier studies that have also failed to show a clear connection between prenatal organophosphate exposure and autism-related traits in children. But the new paper does not close the book on the wider question of pesticide safety. Organophosphates are known neurotoxicants, and because food is a major source of exposure in the US, scientists continue to examine whether prenatal contact could affect child development in other ways.
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