Children and Pesticides Don't Mix: A Beyond Pesticides Fact Sheet - Children are more susceptible to chemicals than adults...

Children are especially vulnerable to pesticides

The National Academy of Sciences reports that children are more susceptible to chemicals than adults and estimates that 50% of lifetime pesticide exposure occurs during the first five years of life. ¹
EPA concurs that children take in more pesticides relative to body weight than adults and have developing organ systems that are more vulnerable and less able to detoxify toxic chemicals. ²
Infants crawling behavior and proximity to the floor account for a greater potential than adults for dermal and inhalation exposure to contaminants on carpets, floors, lawns, and soil. ³
Children with developmental delays and those younger than six years are at increased risk of ingesting pesticides through nonfood items, such as soil. ⁴
Studies find that pesticides such as the weed killer 2,4-D pass from mother to child through umbilical cord blood and breast milk. ⁵
Consistent observations have led investigators to conclude that chronic low-dose exposure to certain pesticides might pose a hazard to the health and development of children. ⁶
The World Health Organization (WHO) cites that over 30% of the global burden of disease in children can be attributed to environmental factors, including pesticides. ⁷

Children, cancer and pesticides

The probability of an effect such as cancer, which requires a period of time to develop after exposure, is enhanced if exposure occurs early in life. ⁸
A study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute finds that household and garden pesticide use can increase the risk of childhood leukemia as much as seven-fold. ⁹
Studies show that children living in households where pesticides are used suffer elevated rates of leukemia, brain cancer and soft tissue sarcoma. ¹⁰
Pesticides can increase susceptibility to certain cancers by breaking down the immune system's surveillance against cancer cells. Infants and children, the aged and the chronically ill are at greatest risk from chemically-induced immune suppression. ¹¹

A study published by the American Cancer Society finds an increased risk for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) in people exposed to common herbicides and fungicides, particularly the weed killer mecoprop (MCPP). People exposed to glyphosate (Roundup®) are 2.7 times more likely to develop NHL. ¹²
75 out of all 99 human studies done on lymphoma and pesticides find a link between the two. ¹³
Four peer-reviewed studies demonstrate the ability of glyphosate-containing herbicides to cause genetic damage to DNA (mutagenicity), even at very low concentration levels. ¹⁴
A 2007 study published in Environmental Health Perspectives finds that children born to mothers living in households with pesticide use during pregnancy had over twice as much risk of getting cancer, specifically acute leukemia (AL) or non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). ¹⁵
A 2007 Canadian report shows that a greater environmental risk exists for boys, specifically when it comes to cancer, asthma, learning and behavioral disorders, birth defects and testicular dysgenesis syndrome. ¹⁶