Pesticides cause lead contamination among pregnant women: study

FE Report
Unplanned use of pesticides and herbicides in crops is one of the key reasons for presence of higher level of lead in blood among pregnant women in rural Bangladesh, a study revealed.
Experts suggested adapting integrated pest management (IPM) method to reduce use of pesticides in farmlands.
The study, jointly conducted by icddr,b (International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh) and Stanford University, USA identified high level of lead in blood among pregnant women of Bangladesh and its one of the key source is use of pesticides and herbicides in crops.
Lead is a type of metal that interferes with a variety of body processes and is toxic to many organs and tissues including the heart, bones, intestines, kidneys, and reproductive and nervous systems.
It interferes with the development of the nervous system and is therefore particularly toxic to children, causing potentially permanent learning and behaviour disorders.
The research was released in Bangladesh Thursday at a press conference held at the Independence War Museum Conference Hall in the city jointly organised by Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon (BAPA), One Health Bangladesh (OHB) and Doctors for Health and Environment (DHEn).
Prof Stephen Luby, a Stanford professor of medicine and senior fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute and the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, presented the magnetic parts of the research at the conference.
The study tested blood of 430 pregnant women from Tangail, Gazipur, Mymensingh and Kishoreganj districts of whom 46 per cent had elevated lead levels.
The research showed that compared to women with low blood lead levels, women with the highest blood lead levels were more likely to have used herbicides and pesticides on their crops, more likely to have eaten canned food and more likely to have husked rice with a machine.   
Prof Luby concluded that the food supply in Bangladesh is contaminated with lead and this contamination has caused widespread lead intoxication among residents of Bangladesh.
Officials of the iccddr,b and Stanford University, representing the programme, said that the two organisations are planning further studies to understand how the lead is entering the food supply.
They are also searching for developing strategy to reduce this contamination.
However, long before the research by Stanford University, a study in Dhaka, led by Prof Rafiqul Islam of Bangladesh Agricultural University, identified high levels of lead in rice that is sold in markets in Dhaka, according to BAPA.
The study by Prof Islam showed that on an average lead in rice sold in Dhaka is at 6 times the level acceptable to the US Environmental Protection agency.  
However, experts said the government has to include IPM as a regular programme of Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE).
BAPA secretary Dr Abdul Matin said adopting IPM method in crop fields can reduce use of pesticides and herbicides significantly.
He said the method helped reduce nearly 15,000 tonnes of pesticides in last three years.
 He also said besides reducing use of pesticides, we will also have to protest entrance of risky and controversial technologies like genetically modified crops.
Chairman of Subaltern Communication Research Centre Delowar Jahan said the government has recently stopped its funding for IPM projects.
"IPM method has helped thousands of farmers to reintroduce their forgotten farm methods which were more scientific than using pesticides," he said.
"It is ridiculous that without adopting IPM, the government is permitting GMO crops as an excuse for reducing use of pesticides", he said.
Director at iccddr,b Dr Mahmudur Rahman, coordinator of OHB Dr Nitai Chandra Devnath, among others, also spoke on the occasion.