Unintended Consequences: The Chemical War on Boys

Article here. Excerpt:

'In the spring of 2011 farm workers near Royal City, Washington, were working in an orchard when a toxic cloud drifted their way from a neighboring farm. Carol Dansereau, executive director of Farm Worker Pesticide Project describes what happened next:

Within minutes they were experiencing the pain and terror of acute poisoning: vomiting, abdominal cramps, dizziness, headaches, weak muscles, numbness, burning hot skin, and other symptoms.

Chlorpyrifos (CPF), the pesticide behind the poisoning, is one of the most common agricultural chemicals. The EPA finally banned it for household use in 2000, but it is still widely used on golf courses, treated wood and in agriculture. It lingers on foods, contaminates drinking water, and poisons the air.

It also lowers IQ, especially in boys. The latest in a string of studies to show chlorpyrifos harms growing brains did not look at farm workers. The 335 children and their mothers were Latino and African Americans from low-income neighborhoods in New York City. Columbia University tracked them from birth.'