MPN - Maryland Pesticide Network

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Prenatal Exposure to Insecticide Chlorpyrifos Linked to Alterations in Brain Structure and Cognition
While No Longer Registered for Household Use in the U.S., the Insecticide Is Widely Used Around the World and in U.S. Agriculture. Even low to moderate levels of exposure to the insecticide chlorpyrifos during pregnancy may lead to long-term, potentially irreversible changes in the brain structure of the child, according to a new brain imaging study by researchers from the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health at the Mailman School of Public Health, Duke University Medical Center, Emory University, and the New York State Psychiatric Institute....
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EPA Publishes Human Health Benchmarks for Pesticides in Water
In the face of widespread pesticide contamination of U.S. waterways and the lack of drinking water standards for hundreds of pesticides, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced new health and environmental benchmarks for acute pesticide effects...
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Study links autism with industrial food, environment
The epidemic of autism in children in the United States may be linked to the typical American diet according to a new study published online in Clinical Epigenetics by Renee Dufault, et. al. The study explores how mineral deficiencies—affected by dietary factors like high fructose corn syrup (HFCS)—could impact how the human body rids itself of common toxic chemicals like mercury and pesticides....
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Roundup Linked to Animal Shape Changes
The world's most popular weed killer can induce morphological changes in vertebrate animals, U.S. biologists studying its effect on amphibians say. University of Pittsburgh researchers have found that the weed killer Roundup, in sub-lethal and environmentally relevant concentrations, causes two species of amphibians to change their shape by....
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Researchers investigating role of pesticides in autism spectrum disorder
One in 88 American children has an autism spectrum disorder, according to a new estimate from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention...
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Common pesticide makes honeybees get lost and reduces bumblebee hive weight, new studies say
A common class of pesticide is causing problems for honeybees and bumblebees, important species already in trouble, two studies suggest....
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Bee research details harm from insecticides
New research has begun to unravel the mystery of why bees are disappearing in alarming numbers worldwide: Some of the pesticides most commonly used by farmers appear to be changing bee behavior in small but fatal ways....
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Environmental Chemicals: Evaluating Low-Dose Effects
Around the world, large-scale biomonitoring programs have provided extensive information about human exposure to a large number of environmental chemicals (Barr et al. 2010; Bilau et al. 2008; Churchill et al. 2001; Woodruff et al. 2011). As these programs extend to look at vulnerable populations, including pregnant women, fetuses, and the elderly, our knowledge of the...
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Low doses, big effects: Scientists seek 'fundamental changes' in testing, regulation of hormone-like chemicals
Small doses can have big health effects. That is a main finding of a new report, three years in the making, published Wednesday by a team of 12 scientists who study hormone-altering chemicals. Dozens of substances that can mimic or block hormones are found in the environment, the food supply and consumer products, including plastics, pesticides and cosmetics. One of the biggest controversies...
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Fungus-Derived Biopesticide Shows Promise Against Lyme Disease
Research on a biopesticide derived from a strain of naturally occurring soil fungus has confirmed the material's effectiveness at suppressing the most common variety of tick that spreads Lyme disease. Researchers from the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station demonstrated a significant reduction in the number of blacklegged, or "deer" ticks...
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Welcome to the
Maryland Pesticide Network website. MPN is a grassroots coalition of organizations in Maryland dedicated to protecting the public and the environment from the adverse affects of pesticides and promoting healthy alternatives.