NGOs warn New Zealand's children vulnerable to risks of autism, ADHD due to insecticide threat

The more chlorpyrifos-based insecticide is used in agriculture fields, the more children will be vulnerable to hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism, warned an alliance of NGOs in Aotearoa, New Zealand, calling upon the government to accelerate its assessment regarding the effects of this “toxic” substance on human lives.

“Children are particularly at risk from exposure to even minute amounts of chlorpyrifos, such as residues in food […] We urgently need to get this toxic pesticide out of our children’s food,” Meriel Watts from Pesticide Action Network Aotearoa New Zealand (PAN ANZ) was quoted as saying by the statement.

She added that children at early ages are at risk of developing ADHD, autism and pervasive developmental disorders (PDD) “with long-term consequences for social adjustment and academic achievement.”

Chlorpyrifos is used in insecticides and as a soil treatment in agriculture. This substance remains in the soil between 60 and 120 days and degrades through bacterial action, according to a report issued by the World Health Organization in 2004.

The 17th meeting of the Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee (POPRC.17) of the Stockholm Convention on Protecting Human Health and the Environment from Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) has recommended making a “draft risk profile” on chlorpyrifos, the alliance said.

As per a study published in 2014 by the University of California, Davis, 60 percent of pregnant women who live in rural areas where insecticides are used are vulnerable to having children with autism. Also, a US study by the Harvard School of Public Health revealed a direct correlation between pesticides and ADHD, Reuters reported in May 2010.

The United States banned the use of chlorpyrifos in a decision issued by the US Environmental Protection Agency in August 2021.