What you can do to keep your kids safe from pesticides

Who’s most at risk for pesticide exposure and how can you keep your kids safe? One expert has some answers.

Studies show that exposure to pesticides—specifically those containing chlorpyrifos, which attack an insect’s nervous system—can harm a child’s physical and mental development.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey detected chlorpyrifos in 96% of children sampled nationwide, with those ages 6 to 11 having concentrations higher than adults.

Nancy Fiedler, a professor at the Rutgers University School of Public Health and deputy director of the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute, who is studying how pesticide exposure affects fetuses in each trimester of pregnancy, says it is unknown exactly when children are the most vulnerable, but says there is no question that most children—even those who live outside of agricultural areas where pesticides are sprayed—are at risk.

Here, Fiedler, who researches the effects of neurotoxicants, including pesticides, on human brain function and development, explains how children get exposed and what parents can do to keep them safe:

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