Scientists find hidden brain damage from a common pesticide
A new investigation has identified a connection between prenatal exposure to the commonly used insecticide chlorpyrifos (CPF) and measurable differences in brain structure, along with reduced motor skills, among children and adolescents in New York City.
Researchers found that these brain and motor abnormalities appear to persist for years after birth. The study, conducted by teams from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, and the Keck School of Medicine of USC, is the first to reveal lasting molecular, cellular, and metabolic effects in the human brain tied to prenatal CPF exposure. The findings were published in JAMA Neurology.
How the Study Was Conducted
The research followed 270 participants from the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health birth cohort. All were born to Latino and African-American mothers in New York City. Each child had detectable levels of CPF in their umbilical cord blood at birth and underwent brain imaging and behavioral assessments between the ages of 6 and 14.
Results showed a clear pattern: children with higher prenatal exposure to the insecticide displayed more pronounced structural and functional brain differences. They also performed worse on tests measuring motor speed and coordination. The evidence suggests that CPF exposure before birth disrupts brain structure, function, and metabolism in direct proportion to the level of exposure.
Widespread Exposure and Ongoing Risks
For this study group, indoor pesticide use was the main source of exposure. Although the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency banned chlorpyrifos for household use in 2001, it remains in use in agriculture for non-organic produce and grains. This continued use means farm workers and nearby communities can still be exposed through contaminated air and dust.
“Current widespread exposures, at levels comparable to those experienced in this sample, continue to place farm workers, pregnant women, and unborn children in harm’s way. It is vitally important that we continue to monitor the levels of exposure in potentially vulnerable populations, especially in pregnant women in agricultural communities, as their infants continue to be at risk,” said Virginia Rauh, ScD, senior author on the study and the Jane and Alan Batkin Professor of Population and Family Health at Columbia Mailman School.
“The disturbances in brain tissue and metabolism that we observed with prenatal exposure to this one pesticide were remarkably widespread throughout the brain. Other organophosphate pesticides likely produce similar effects, warranting caution to minimize exposures in pregnancy, infancy, and early childhood, when brain development is rapid and especially vulnerable to these toxic chemicals,” says first author Bradley Peterson, MD, Vice Chair for Research and Chief of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry at at the Keck School of Medicine of USC.
The research team included several contributors from multiple institutions. At Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, co-authors were Howard Andrews, Wanda Garcia, and Frederica Perera. From the Institute for the Developing Mind at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, the team included Sahar Delavari, Ravi Bansal, Siddhant Sawardekar, and Chaitanya Gupte. Lori A. Hoepner from SUNY Downstate School of Public Health in Brooklyn, New York, also participated.
The project received financial support from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (grants ES09600, ES015905, ES015579, DA027100, ES08977, ES009089); the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency STAR program (grants RD834509, RD832141, R827027); and the National Institute of Mental Health (grants MH068318, K02-74677). Additional funding came from the John and Wendy Neu Family Foundation, an anonymous donor, Patrice and Mike Harmon, the Inspirit Fund, and the Robert Coury family.
Bradley Peterson is President of Evolve Psychiatry Professional Corporation and serves as an advisor to Evolve Adolescent Behavioral Health, where he holds stock options. He also provides expert testimony. Peterson and co-author Ravi Bansal share a U.S. Patent (Number 61/424,172), and Peterson holds two additional U.S. Patents (61/601,772 and 8,143,890B2). All other researchers reported no conflicts of interest or financial ties.
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