Humans

Hyperactivity Disorder or ADHD is a disorder of modern times, affecting more and more of America's children. While the origins of ADHD are surprising and disturbing, alleviating or even reversing symptoms is possible. Twelve percent of U.S. children and teens had a diagnosis of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in 2011, a number that has jumped by 43 percent since 2003, according to a large national study based on parental reports of an ADHD diagnosis according to a recent analysis.

Eating food with high levels of pesticides has an adverse effect on the brain, according to a review of existing scientific evidence commissioned by the European Parliament. The MEPs wanted to know whether organic food was healthier than conventionally grown crops and asked experts to look at the relevant research.

Until a few decades ago, the popular but falsely reassuring belief was that babies in the womb were perfectly protected by the placenta and that children were just “little adults,” requiring no special protections from environmental threats. We now know that a host of chemicals, pollutants and viruses readily travel across the placenta from mother to fetus, pre-polluting or pre-infecting a baby even before birth.

Ecuador is the third largest producer of cut flowers in the world, primarily roses, many of which are destined to be sold for Mother’s Day. The industry employs more than 103,000 people, and relies heavily on agricultural pesticides. In a paper published in the May 2017 issue of the journal NeuroToxicology, researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, with colleagues in Ecuador and Minnesota, have found altered short-term neurological behaviors in children associated with a peak pesticide spraying season linked to the Mother’s Day flower harvest.

One of the most dangerous pesticides, neonicotinoids, has been found in drinking water, a new study reveals. Neonicotinoids, most of which were released in the 1990s, were designed to be the most environmentally-friendly chemicals on the market and soon became the most widely used, especially in the Midwest. The compounds don't just coat leaves and stems but work their way into plant tissue, meaning fewer sprays are needed. But the neonics, as they are nicknamed, became reputable for being something else - a bee killer, wreaking havoc on insect nervous systems.

Auf großes Interesse stieß am Mittwoch der Vortrag von Dr. Henk Tennekes, (Experimental Toxicology Services Nederland), zum Einsatz von Pestiziden. Im Saal der Gaststätte „Meta“ in Hesel mussten zusätzliche Stühle aufgestellt werden, damit jeder der rund 200 Besucher einen Sitzplatz erhielt. Die Vorsitzende des Kreis-Imkerverbandes, Almuth Janßen aus Hesel, war als Veranstalterin „schlicht erschlagen von der großen Resonanz“, wie sie sagte. Tennekes stellte seine in jahrelanger Forschung ermittelten Untersuchungsergebnisse in wissenschaftlicher Form mit vielen Daten und Tabellen dar.

This report reviews the existing scientific evidence regarding the impact of organic food on human health from an EU perspective and the potential contribution of organic management practices to the development of healthy food systems. Very few studies have directly addressed the effect of organic food on human health. They indicate that organic food may reduce the risk of allergic disease and obesity, but this evidence is not conclusive. Consumers of organic food tend to have healthier dietary patterns overall.

The idea that pesticides are essential to feed a fast-growing global population is a myth, according to UN food and pollution experts. A new report, being presented to the UN human rights council on Wednesday, is severely critical of the global corporations that manufacture pesticides, accusing them of the “systematic denial of harms”, “aggressive, unethical marketing tactics” and heavy lobbying of governments which has “obstructed reforms and paralysed global pesticide restrictions”.