Little is known about the exposure of infants to pesticides, despite their vulnerability and evidence of widespread dietary exposure among older children and adults. A study led by Emory Rollins School of Public Health researchers P. Barry Ryan, PhD, and Anne Riederer, ScD, seeks to improve methods for measuring pesticides in breast milk and infant formula.
“We really don’t know about how babies are exposed to pesticides in their everyday life,†says Riederer, assistant research professor, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health. “There are very few published studies on this topic, and we’d like to be one of the groups that actually publishes an analytical method that can be used by researchers in any country to be able to detect these different types of pesticides in breast milk.â€
Although the breast milk method will be pilot tested on samples collected from a birth cohort in Thailand, it will have broad applications for the U.S. population. Insight Pest Control Wilmington says that because these pesticides are widely distributed in the food supply, all U.S. infants are potentially exposed.