As the weather becomes warmer, I have been itching to get out into our yard to do some planting. You see, this is the first spring I have had a yard to play in in over a decade. So you can imagine that my view on gardening, fertilizer, pest management and what not has changed dramatically since then.
A study done on preschoolers (from in utero to age 3) in upper Manhattan and the South Bronx was recently released showing a connection between exposure to an insecticide, chlorpyrifos and neuro-developmental delays. Chlorpyrifos, very common up until it was banned from residential use in 2001, was used in commercial and personal roach control products among other things. It suggests that this chemical easily crosses the placenta into the fetus and is connected with increased delays in cognitive and motor development.
Having lived in NYC, there isn't an apartment there that doesn't deal with roaches at some point or another. Once I became aware of the potential dangers of these products, we switched to a carefully controlled use of boric acid. While we refused extermination service each month, our neighbors did not, so I was undoubtedly exposed to at least some of it while I was pregnant.
To me, there isn't a lot of surprise in this latest study or the response. It reinvigorates my efforts to keep chemicals away from my family and me. The problem is that I can't control the farmers, the municipal workers and others who may still be using this chemical (however unaware of its effects) on nearby areas. Has it seeped into our well water? Is it in our food crops? Who knows? And again, it causes me pause that we as a society don't demand the testing of all chemicals before they are used. Period.
Roaches are gross and carry disease. But if the cure for them is at the damage of our children, there must be a better way.
Why are our children sick before they are even born? It is devastating to all of us.
