More Evidence--Pesticides Cause Brain Damage

Genetic Link Found for Pesticides, ADHD, Gulf War Syndrome
Environment News Service
March 17, 2003

LA JOLLA, California, March 17, 2003 (ENS) - Supported by a
$1.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense, research
at the Salk Institute have identified a gene that may link certain
pesticides and chemical weapons to a number of neurological
disorders, including the Gulf War syndrome and attention
deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

The finding, published in the March 17 online version of "Nature
Genetics," is the first to demonstrate a clear genetic link between
neurological disorders and exposure to organophosphate
chemicals.

The gene is one that scientists had not studied in previous efforts to
find connections between these chemicals and disease.
Organophosphates include household pesticides as well as deadly
nerve gases like sarin.

The Gulf War syndrome is a "loosely defined collection of
symptoms," the researchers said, "ranging from headache and fever
to severe forgetfulness and movement disorders." It was first noted
after Operations Desert Storm and Desert Shield in 1991, when
U.S., Canadian and British military veterans reported more
symptoms than soldiers who were not deployed. Its cause is
unknown.

Dr. Carrolee Barlow, who led the work at the Salk Institute and is
now at Merck and Co., Inc., and her team, headed by Christopher
Winrow, found in mice that organophosphate exposure inhibited
the activity of a gene called neuropathy target esterase, or NTE.
The gene is active in parts of the brain controlling movement - the
hippocampus, the cerebellum and the spinal cord.

This inhibition either killed the mice before birth, or led to a range
of behaviors very similar to ADHD. Some of the neurological
problems were similar to symptoms seen in Gulf War syndrome.

"This study shows that there may indeed be a genetic connection
that explains how organophosphates can cause these reactions; it's
just not what we assumed it would be," Barlow said.

"There have been anecdotal links made between rises in attention
deficit/hyperactivity disorder, Parkinson's disease and other
disorders and exposure to pesticides," she said. "There also has
been suspicion of a link to Gulf War syndrome. But scientists have
been focusing on enzymes that act on acetylcholine
neurotransmitters.

Barlow's group had originally been looking at how environmental
factors immediately affect the nervous system. They found that
mice bred to lack the NTE gene died before birth.

But the group also found that mice with only one copy of the NTE
gene, when exposed to experimental organophosphates and
examined over a prolonged period, exhibited behavior similar to
attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

"NTE is a large gene," said Barlow. "It's possible that we all have
slightly different forms of the NTE enzyme, which may explain
why some may get ADHD when they're exposed at young ages,
and why some may get Gulf War syndrome at a later age, or why
some of us have no symptoms at all. It appears to be a case of
delayed toxicity, inhibiting the function of NTE."

The Salk Institute for Biological Studies is an independent
nonprofit organization dedicated to fundamental discoveries in the
life sciences, the improvement of human health and conditions, and
the training of future generations of researchers. The institute was
founded in 1960 by polio vaccine discoverer Jonas Salk, M.D.,
with a gift of land from the City of San Diego and the financial
support of the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation.

the dirt on dirt

by Suzanne Gerber

Of all the things we take for granted, and there are many, soil might just be at the top of the list.  Clean air and water, natural energy sources, rain forests all get tons of press.  Yet how much do we know about soil?  We walk on it, sit on it, drive on it, plant flowers or herbs or food in it, but how often do we think about what a magical -- and endangered -- substance it really is?

It takes thousands of years of natural rock erosion to create topsoil, that rarest of commodity that can hold plants and water and support photosynthesis -- the formula to grow the food that sustains life.  And while it takes 500 years to produce just one inch of topsoil, we are currently losing an inch every 16 years.  Experts tell us that non-organic farming techniques are depleting topsoil at 13 times the sustainable rate.  You don't have to be a math whiz to realize that if we don't do something about this trend now, we are headed for a real crisis.

Part of the solution is reallocating farmland for crops rather than the raising of animals for food.  (Livestock grazing is responsible for 85 percent of topsoil depletion.)  But a more immediate fix lies in organic farming and other sustainable agricultural practices.

Seal of approval                                                  

by Abigail Chipley

Consumers shelling out extra cash for organic foods will soon be able to rest assured that what they are buying is indeed the genuine article. Last December, more than a decade after Congress first ordered the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to devise national criteria for labeling organic food, the USDA announced the final adoption of strict federal organic standards. “It was worth the wait,” says Katherine DiMatteo, executive director of the Organic Trade Association. “In the end, they’ve given us a rule that clearly defines organic standards.”

First and foremost, the new rules specify that produce labeled “USDA Organic” cannot be grown with synthetic fertilizers or pesticides. In addition, organic crops cannot be produced with the use of irradiation, biotechnology or sewer sludge fertilizer—all methods the USDA was prepared to allow in the first set of standards it proposed back in 1997. But after a barrage of criticism from organic producers and consumers alike, the agency banned these practices in the revised final standards.

The rules for processed organic foods like cereals and cookies are a bit more complicated. To earn the “USDA Organic” label, they must contain at least 95 percent organic ingredients. Those that contain at least 70 percent organic ingredients may be labeled “made with organic ingredients,” but any products with less than 70 percent organic ingredients may only use the word organic in the ingredients list.

There are still kinks to be worked out, of course, including the regulations for specialty crops like honey and mushrooms, but DiMatteo thinks these issues will be ironed out in the coming months. She also expects the Bush Administration to be supportive of the final standards. “It doesn’t seem like a strong political position to take that the organic industry is anything but a boon to U.S. agriculture,” she says. After all, the industry posted $7.76 billion in retail sales last year alone.

The federal standards, which will be fully enforced by mid-2002, are expected to help farmers market their products abroad as well as increase customer confidence in organic foods. Arran Stephens, founder and CEO of Nature’s Path Foods Inc., a Canadian organic foods company with upwards of $40 million in sales each year, is confident that the standards will win new customers. Says Stephens, “I think it will strengthen our industry’s credibility and reduce some of the last barriers that consumers might feel about buying organic.”