Pesticide giants have been accused of hiding their products’ toxicity to developing brains

And neurodevelopmental disorders – autism, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, intellectual disability, etc. – Increasing in many countries, including France, the work of chemist Axel Mies (Stockholm University, Karolinska Institutet) and toxicologist Christina Ruden (Stockholm University) has attracted great interest. and strong opposition.

Following on from previous work on glyphosate published in September 2022, two Swedish scientists show in a study published on Thursday 1^Eh June in Review The state of the environmentthat several pesticide manufacturers shielded European authorities from unfavorable results of tests for toxicity to the developing brain (DNT, Developmental neurotoxicity) – tests they have performed on their substances to evaluate them before marketing authorization. The results were revealed exclusively the worldBayerischer Rundfunk and Der Spiegel In Germany, Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF) in Switzerland and The Guardian Great Britain.

At first, two researchers did the painstaking work. They compared data from thousands of pages of regulatory filings that manufacturers have submitted to American and European authorities. Thus, they were able to identify nine pesticides, for which several 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). Conducted on laboratory animals between 2001 and 2007, these tests were not considered by the European regulator during the first authorization of these nine substances – abamectin, ethopropos, buprofezin, phenamidone, fenamiphos, fluazinam, glyphosate-trimesium, pymetrozine, pymetrozine. Mostly issued in the late 2000s.

“This work should be taken more seriously, since the impact of pesticides on neurodevelopmental disorders has been unequivocally proven not only in laboratory animals, but also in humans.”Commented neurobiologist Yehezkel Ben-Ari, director emeritus of research at the National Institute for Health and Medical Research (Inserm), who was not involved in the work of the Swedish researchers. Especially with autism, but also with IQ, we know that the mother’s exposure affects the unborn child. »