wow they are just now figuring this out..good grief



Mon Sep 17, 10:38 AM ET



STOCKHOLM (AFP) - Farmers' use of certain pesticides can cause asthma, a breakthrough study presented in Stockholm at an international conference on respiratory diseases showed

This is a breakthrough: never before has a large-scale study demonstrated that farmers' exposure to insecticides, fungicides and herbicides can contribute to the prevalence of asthma, independently of other risk factors," a statement from the European Respiratory Society's annual congress said.

The study group was exposed to 48 different pesticides and asthma was found to be linked to the use of 16 of them, a "quite alarming" discovery, the statement said.

Asthma was linked to specific chemicals since we did not identify a link either with particular pesticide classes or with a particular method of use," Hoppin said.

"In addition, we show that a history of high pesticide exposure event was associated with a doubling of asthma risk," she added.

Of the 452 farmers who developed asthma after the age of 20, 129 had allergic asthma while the remaining 323 had the non-allergic version.

Some pesticides led to a 30- to 40-percent increase in the prevalence of asthma, while some led to a two-fold increase.

Six of the 16 pesticides are no longer sold in the United States.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070917/hl_afp/healthresea...jTmvAzgaiocYbses0NUE

Oh and this one .........causes cancer

and what sort of pesticides are used on tobacco plants?

Pesticide blamed for 'health disaster'


PARIS (AFP) - The French Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique face a "health disaster" with soaring cancer and infertility rates because of the massive use of banned pesticides on banana plantations, a top cancer specialist warned Monday.

Martinique and Guadeloupe are currently facing "an extremely serious crisis linked to the massive use of pesticides for a great many years," Professor Dominique Belpomme said in a report obtained by AFP Monday.

The poisoning affects both land and water. Chlordecone establishes itself in the clay and stays there for up to a century. As a result the food chain is contaminated, and especially water. In Martinique most water sources are polluted," he said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070917/wl_afp/franceenvir...oCNNKwe_Jwl73ZCs0NUE

quote:

Six of the 16 pesticides are no longer sold in the United States.

I wonder how many of the pesticides the dear CEO of Scotts Miracle Grow is using.
Firing employees for smoking off the job and yet potentially contributing to allergic asthma of his customers...of the world...

I know a non-smoker who worked at Scotts LESS THAN A YEAR. His sense of smell is gone, and he has breathing problems, both directly related, he feels.