你需要知道的關于毒死蜱的事實

你需要知道的關于毒死蜱的事實

Chlorpyrifos is an organophosphate insecticide. It has been almost entirely banned for residential use since 2000 because of the heath risks it presents for children. But the pesticide's residue is still persistent in the environment. In addition, it is still sprayed commercially on some agricultural crops, including fruit trees and vegetables, and is also used on golf courses and for mosquito control.

毒死蜱是一種有機磷農藥。自2000年以來，由于它會給兒童帶來健康風險，它幾乎完全被禁止用于住宅用途。但農藥殘留仍在環(huán)境中持續(xù)存在。此外，它還被商業(yè)地噴灑在一些農作物上，包括果樹和蔬菜，還被用于高爾夫球場和蚊蟲控制。

Chlorpyrifos is sprayed commercially on some agricultural crops, including fruit trees and vegetables. (Photo: Tommy Lee Walker/Shutterstock)

There has been a back-and-forth through the years as the government has struggled whether to keep the pesticide legal. Most recently, California announced that it will ban the sale of the pesticide beginning in early 2020, NPR reports. Sales will end in early February and growers will not be able to use it after Dec. 31, 2020.

多年來，政府一直在為是否讓這種農藥合法而斗爭。據(jù)美國國家公共電臺報道，最近，加州宣布從2020年初開始禁止銷售這種殺蟲劑。銷售將在2月初結束，種植者將不能在2020年12月31日之后使用它。

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) banned the pesticide in 2015, but it reversed that decision in 2017 under the Trump administration.

美國環(huán)境保護署(EPA)在2015年禁止了這種農藥，但在特朗普政府執(zhí)政的2017年推翻了這一決定。

Since then, a dozen environmental groups petitioned the EPA to ban the pesticide and a federal judge ordered the agency in August 2018 "to revoke all tolerances and cancel all registrations for chlorpyrifos within 60 days." But the EPA announced in July 2019 that it would not institute a federal ban on chlorpyrifos, CNN reports.

自那以后，十幾家環(huán)保組織向美國環(huán)保署請愿，要求禁止使用毒死蜱。2018年8月，一名聯(lián)邦法官命令該機構“在60天內撤銷所有抗藥性，并取消所有毒死蜱登記。”但據(jù)美國有線電視新聞網(CNN)報道，美國環(huán)保署于2019年7月宣布，將不會在聯(lián)邦政府中禁止毒死蜱。

"EPA has determined that their objections must be denied because the data available are not sufficiently valid, complete or reliable to meet petitioners' burden to present evidence demonstrating that the tolerances are not safe," the agency said in a statement.

環(huán)保署在一份聲明中說:“環(huán)保署認為，必須駁回他們的反對意見，因為現(xiàn)有的數(shù)據(jù)不夠有效、完整或可靠，不能滿足請愿者提出證據(jù)證明耐受量不安全的要求。”

Environmental groups have argued that studies show that exposures to the pesticide is liked to low birth weight, reduced IQ, attention disorders and other issues in infants and children.

環(huán)保組織認為，研究表明，嬰兒和兒童接觸農藥會導致出生體重下降、智商下降、注意力障礙和其他問題。

Earlier worries

早些時候的擔憂

Prenatal exposure to chlorpyrifos can affect a boy's short term memory later in life. (Photo: mike mols/Shutterstock)

This is not the first time the insecticide has come under scrutiny. A 2012 study regarding chlorpyrifos shows a link between exposure and its effect on kids' brains — particularly for boys.

這并不是該殺蟲劑第一次受到審查。2012年一項關于毒死蜱的研究表明，接觸毒死蜱與毒死蜱對兒童大腦的影響有關，尤其是對男孩。

The study, published in the journal Neurotoxicology and Teratology and reported on by Environmental Health News followed 335 pairs of mothers and children that were part of a large group of families living in low-income neighborhoods in New York City. Several years ago, researchers were able to test each child's umbilical cord blood after birth to determine exposure level to various chemicals — including chlorpyrifos. Now, as many of the children are reaching school age, researchers are able to link the effect of various levels of chlorpyrifos exposure with each child's short-term memory.

該研究發(fā)表在《神經毒理學和畸形學雜志》，由環(huán)境健康新聞報道的335對母親和兒童,是一大群生活在紐約低收入社區(qū)的一部分家庭。幾年前，研究人員能夠檢測每個孩子出生后的臍帶血，以確定他們與各種化學物質——包括毒死蜱——的接觸程度?，F(xiàn)在，隨著許多孩子到了上學的年齡，研究人員能夠將不同水平毒死蜱接觸的影響與每個孩子的短期記憶聯(lián)系起來。

For the boys, prenatal exposure to chlorpyrifos was associated with lower scores on short-term memory tests than girls who were exposed to similar levels of the pesticide. Scores were an average of three-points lower for boys than girls. These findings suggest that chlorpyrifos may harm boys’ developing brains more than girls’.

對于男孩來說，產前暴露于毒死蜱的環(huán)境中，在短期記憶測試中的得分要低于暴露于同等水平殺蟲劑的女孩。男生的平均分數(shù)比女生低3分。這些發(fā)現(xiàn)表明毒死蜱對男孩大腦發(fā)育的危害大于女孩。