And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: Published Tuesday, March 16, 1999 http://www2.startribune.com/stOnLine/cgi-bin/article?thisSlug=0316PM-WI--PES TICIDE&date=16-Mar-99&word=indian&word=indians Study: Pesticides affect mice development Statewire LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A common mix of insecticide, herbicide and fertilizer found in drinking water altered the way brains of young mice developed, raising speculation young children could suffer similar effects, researchers say. Though the mice study, published Monday in the journal Toxicology and Industrial Health, isn' t compelling by itself, the findings seem to bolster other research into how pesticide exposure affects the development of a human brain. " Data suggest that we may be raising a generation of children with learning disabilities and hyper-aggression, " said Wayne Porter, a University of Wisconsin professor of zoology and environmental toxicology. Over five years, Porter' s mice drank water containing a mixture of two pesticides -- aldicarb and atrazine -- and nitrates from fertilizer. It' s a concoction similar to that found in groundwater in many agricultural areas, Porter said. The mixture of three chemicals altered the mice' s thyroid hormones, which control how the brain of a fetus or young child develops, the study says. However, each chemical alone did not affect the thyroid-hormone levels, exposing a hole in how federal effort to protect consumers -- the Environmental Protection Agency only tests for effects of pesticides individually, not cumulatively. The EPA tests " generate a great deal of false confidence in the safety" of pesticides, Porter said. His study is bolstered by research done in Sonora, Mexico, which found sharp differences in mental and physical skills when comparing Yaqui Indian preschoolers in a farming region with those in adjacent foothills where no pesticides are used. Another study, conducted in rural western Minnesota, found increased birth defects in children born during the spring growing season. Others, however, were skeptical of the findings. " I' m kind of dubious that low-level exposures to chemicals are raising all kinds of havoc with the endocrine system, " said John McCarthy, vice president of a group representing pesticide manufacturers, the American Crop Protection Association. " The human system has so many protective mechanisms, and our bodies are bombarded with all kinds of things." Dr. Harley Kornblum, a pediatric neurologist at the UCLA Medical Center, said it' s debatable how important the mother' s thyroid level is to the fetus, and it' s even more uncertain what factor environmental contaminants may play. Copyright 1999 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
