Pesticide giants have been accused of hiding the toxicity of their products to brain development

Neurodevelopmental Disorders – Autism, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Intellectual Disabilities etc. – Increasing sharply in many countries, including France, the work of chemist Axel Mee (Stockholm University, Karolinska Institutet) and toxicologist Kristina Ruden (Stockholm University) is of great interest. And a strong controversy.

Following previous work on glyphosate published in September 2022, two Swedish scientists show in a study published Thursday 1^R June by review Environmental healthMany pesticide manufacturers have protected European authorities from unfavorable results of toxicity tests for the developing brain (DNT, Developmental neurotoxicity) – the tests they carried out on their products, considering their evaluation, before marketing authorization. The results were exclusively disclosed the worldBayerischer Rundfunk and Der Spiegel In Germany, Schweizer Radio und Fernschen (SRF) in Switzerland and Guardian UK

Initially, the two researchers undertook difficult tasks. In thousands of pages of regulatory files, they compared data sent by manufacturers to US authorities, on the one hand, and Europeans, on the other. They were thus able to identify nine pesticides Manufacturers (including Bayer and Syngenta) have conducted and submitted DNT studies to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), but not to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). These tests, conducted on laboratory animals between 2001 and 2007, were not taken into account by the European regulator during the first authorization of these nine substances – abamectin, ethoprophos, buprofezin, fenamidone, fenamiphos, fluazinam, glyphosate-trimesium, pymetrodazine, mostly given in the late 2000s.

“Since the effects of pesticides on neurodevelopmental disorders have been unequivocally demonstrated not only in laboratory animals but also in humans, this work should be taken very seriously.Commenting neurologist Yehskel Ben-Ari, director of research awards at the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm), who was not involved in the work of the Swedish researchers. We know that maternal exposures have an impact on the unborn child, particularly autism, but also intelligence levels. »

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