Pesticides and Depression

[KT2000]

This journal study in Environmental Health Perspectives has found a connection between pesticide exposures and depression. Actually there have been several studies that have found the same thing. Our environment is blanketed with tons of neurotoxic chemicals. We really cannot afford to ignore their influence on mental health.

http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/1307450/

Background: Pesticide exposure may be positively associated with depression. Few previous studies have considered the episodic nature of depression or examined individual pesticides.

Objective: We evaluated associations between pesticide exposure and depression among male private pesticide applicators in the Agricultural Health Study.

Methods: We analyzed data for 10 pesticide classes and 50 specific pesticides used by 21,208 applicators enrolled in 1993–1997 who completed a follow-up telephone interview in 2005–2010. We divided applicators who reported a physician diagnosis of depression (n = 1,702; 8%) into those who reported a previous diagnosis of depression at enrollment but not follow-up (n = 474; 28%), at both enrollment and follow-up (n = 540; 32%), and at follow-up but not enrollment (n = 688; 40%) and used polytomous logistic regression to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% CIs. We used inverse probability weighting to adjust for potential confounders and to account for the exclusion of 3,315 applicators with missing covariate data and 24,619 who did not complete the follow-up interview.

Results: After weighting for potential confounders, missing covariate data, and dropout, ever-use of two pesticide classes, fumigants and organochlorine insecticides, and seven individual pesticides—the fumigants aluminum phosphide and ethylene dibromide; the phenoxy herbicide (2,4,5-trichlorophenoxy)acetic acid (2,4,5-T); the organochlorine insecticide dieldrin; and the organophosphate insecticides diazinon, malathion, and parathion—were all positively associated with depression in each case group, with ORs between 1.1 and 1.9.

Conclusions: Our study supports a positive association between pesticide exposure and depression, including associations with several specific pesticides.

[jwirr]

1. Does this explain how it is passed down from generation to generation. As an Iowa family we have

had plenty of contact with the chemicals but for us it is has run for 5 generations.

[KT2000]

2. Studies have shown

that some health effects from certain chemical exposures - especially endocrine disrupting chemicals - do pass down, with the third generation suffering the worst effects. I am not aware of any studies looking at generations and pesticides yet though.

[jwirr]

3. Thank you. The farm chemicals are what we were exposed to for all of our lives. However the old

farmers in the early 1900s were not so I would guess ours is not like the above OP.

[womanofthehills]

4. Pesticide & chemical sensitivity

In my support group of people with multiple chemical sensitivity, about 90% developed all their weird allergies after a pesticide exposure. I developed mine after the city of Albuquerque sprayed malathion for mosquito control mega times.

[KT2000]

5. I developed mine

after I purchased bolts of fabric for a costuming job that I later found out had been shipped to the wholesaler in pesticide containers. Then developed chronic irregular heart rhythm after being over-exposed to 2,4,-D.
Yes - pesticides are making a lot of people sick and they don't realize what is causing it.

[leftyladyfrommo]

6. What about Raid?

I have a friend who is constantly spraying her house with Raid.

That can't be good for you.

[KT2000]

7. definitely a pesticide

I will check for additional info because she needs to stop that.

[KT2000]

8. some ingredients

here are some ingredients in Raid products. There are fact sheets for the chemicals in pesticides at
http://www.pesticides.org. Using their fact sheets you can look up the chemicals of concern. First you need to locate the MSDS sheet to find out those chemicals. Google product name with MSDS.

The study I posted did not look at these chemicals in particular but reading the fact sheets, one should not be repeatedly exposed to this stuff.

permethrin: http://www.pesticide.org/get-the-facts/pesticide-factsheets/factsheets/permethrin

pyrethrins: http://www.pesticide.org/get-the-facts/pesticide-factsheets/factsheets/pyrethrinspyrethrum

piperonyl butoxide: http://www.pesticide.org/get-the-facts/pesticide-factsheets/factsheets/piperonylbutoxide

[leftyladyfrommo]

9. She's been doing it for years.

She's kind of a hoarder and her house is just a mess so she sprays with Raid to keep the roaches down. She has roaches in all her electrical stuff. I didn't even know they did that. She has to replace her electrical stuff often. They even get inside her phone.

The roaches will most likely outlive her.

I don't use any kind of pesticides at all. Not in the house and not in the yard. But I am very careful that there is never any trash in the house. Roaches are a real problem here. Once they get a foothold they are really hard to really get rid of.