Pesticides affect fetal development or not? these are the facts!

Pesticides are chemicals used to kill or control insect pests. Pesticides attack the insect's nervous system to kill or repel pests. If pesticides can kill insects to death because of this poison, what about the fetus in the mother's womb? Is it possible that pesticide exposure affects fetal development during pregnancy?

How do pesticides enter the body?

In addition to entering the nervous system of pests or insects, pesticides can also enter the human body, including the body of pregnant women. There are various ways pesticides enter the body.

First, pesticides can enter when humans breathe (inhale). Second, pesticides can also enter the body if there is direct contact with the skin.

Third, pesticides can enter if swallowed. Sometimes people don't realize after handling their pesticide with their hands to eat. This is where pesticides can be swallowed easily. Pesticides that have contaminated food such as vegetables and fruits can also enter the body.

Do pesticides affect fetal development?

Sabrina Llop, a researcher from the High Public Health Research Center Valencia in Spain stated that the fetus is very susceptible to the harmful effects of pesticides through the mother. The fetus does not yet have a detoxification or cleansing system of toxins in a developing and mature body. They also have a weak immune system against exposure to harmful substances from outside.

In addition, in the womb, the brain, nervous system, and organs of the fetus are developing rapidly and are more sensitive to the effects of toxins including pesticides. Therefore, toxic exposure is easier to interfere with fetal development in pregnancy.

What effects can pesticide exposure have on the fetus?

Pesticides negatively affect fetal development. The effects include, among others, the size of the baby born, the condition of birth defects, prematurity, and can even affect the ability of the child's brain.

In the 2013 Indonesian Environmental Health Journal, Setiyobudi and his colleagues as researchers stated that there is a close relationship between the use of pesticides and the incidence of low birth weight babies (LBW). The longer a mother is exposed to pesticides during pregnancy, the higher the chances of the fetus experiencing LBW.

Reporting from the Merlion Fetal Health page, fetuses exposed to harmful chemicals through their mothers are more prone to damage such as cleft lip conditions, heart defects and other birth defects due to imperfect brain and spinal development.

In addition, exposure to pesticides can increase the likelihood of preterm birth. Babies born prematurely have a body system that is not as good as babies who are born at term. Premature birth also carries a risk of stillbirth (stillborn) higher.

It does not stop here, it turns out that too frequent exposure to pesticides while still in the womb can affect fetal brain development as a child. Reported on the Live Scinece page, a researcher on maternal and child health at the University of California Berkley stated that exposure to pesticides can affect IQ scores.

While in the womb, children who were exposed to pesticides in the frequent category in this study had a lower IQ score of up to 7 points compared to children who experienced exposure to pesticides in the least category in this study.

Therefore, pregnant women are advised to reduce any exposure to pesticides to maintain the condition of the fetus in the womb.

Sources of pesticides

Apart from the scope of agriculture, sources of pesticides can also be found in household products or food and beverages, for example:

Insect-killing sprays (insecticides)
Food (such as vegetables and fruit exposed to pesticides)
Weed killer products (herbicides)
Rodent killer products such as rat poison
Animal cleaning products, for example, animal flea shampoo
Fungicide products

Reporting from the Science Daily page, it turns out that there are still many pregnant women who don't pay attention to the dangers of exposure to pesticides. There are 2,500 women in Spain involved in research in the journal Science of the Total Environment on household use of pesticides.

The results stated that 54% of pregnant women in this study still used insect-killing products in their homes carelessly. This condition is quite dangerous for a pregnant woman who should try to avoid exposure to pesticides during her pregnancy.

How can you reduce your exposure to pesticides?

Cover or remove food, plates, and all utensils from the room that is being sprayed with pesticides.
If possible, have someone else spray the pesticide you want to use in the house to kill the insects. Then, leave the house or room that was freshly sprayed with pesticides until at least the smell is gone.
If your partner or someone in your house works in a place exposed to pesticides, you should not bring clothes exposed to pesticides to the house or do not wash them together with family clothes at home, especially clothes for children and pregnant women.
Open windows so that the air circulates in your house smoothly, especially after using insect repellent spray.
Wear rubber gloves when you have to garden to prevent skin contact with fertilizers, or any other planting material that contains pesticides.
Wash vegetables and fruit thoroughly under running water.