To order a print copy of the complete report see our Publications List . Pesticides are designed to be poisonous. Pesticide metabolites are also found consistently in children's urine, when such testing is performed. Mounting evidence shows that children have daily exposure to pesticides. The Scientific Advisory Panel to EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs recently reviewed a study concluding that every day , nine out of ten American children age six months through 5 years ingest organophosphate insecticides in their food.
Organophosphates kill pests by poisoning the brain and nervous system.
Children are not simply little adults. A child's potential susceptibility to the toxic effects of pesticides, including effects on the developing brain, nervous, immune and reproductive systems, is often greater than an adult's. This vulnerability may not extend to all pesticides. But specific data are often lacking to distinguish individual pesticides that are particularly toxic to children. This means that under the FQPA, the amount of pesticide residue legally allowed to remain in or on foods will be set ten times lower then it would have been previously, until reliable data is generated describing both children's exposure to that pesticide and its toxicity to infants and children.