Environmental Toxins and Fetal Development - Pesticides

Pesticides

A final area of concern to those wishing to avoid prenatal exposure to toxicants would be pesticides. Created for the specific purpose of causing harm (to insects, rodents, and other pests), pesticides have the potential to serious damages to a developing fetus, should they be introduced into the fetal environment. Studies have shown that pesticides, particularly fungicides, have shown up in analyses of infant’s cord blood, proving that such toxins are indeed transferred into the baby’s body (Wickerham et al., 2012). Overall, the two pesticides most frequently detected in cord blood are diethyltolaumide ( a commonly used repellant) and vinclozolin (a fungicide) (Wickerham et al., 2012). Although pesticide toxicity is not as frequently mentioned as some of the other methods of environmental toxicity, such as air pollution, contamination can occur at any time from merely engaging in everyday activities such as walking down a pathway near a contaminated area, or eating foods that have not been washed properly (Wickerham et al., 2012). IN 2007 alone, 1.1 billion pounds of pesticides were found present in the environment, causing pesticide exposure to gain notoriety as a new cause of caution to those wishing to preserve their health and that of the unborn (Wickerham et al., 2012).