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Pregnant women can avoid potentially harmful exposure to pesticides by adopting creative methods for killing cockroaches, according to a recent study.

In the July 27 Environmental Health Perspectives journal, researchers investigated whether integrated pest management, or IPM, could reduce pest infestations and thus exposure to pesticides for pregnant African-American and Latina women in New York City. IPM relies on knowledge of the life cycle and behavior of insects to develop common-sense environmentally sensitive ways to eliminate pests.

In previous research, lead author Megan Williams of Columbia University and colleagues found up to 72 percent of women in inner-city New York are exposed to insecticides during pregnancy. Housing density and disrepair are related to pest problems, the authors wrote.

In their experiment, IPM practices consisted of professional cleaning, sealing of pest entry points, application of pesticides with low toxicity and education about the insects. Williams and colleagues used IPM in 25 homes, and compared these to a control group of 27 homes. The team collected information on cockroach infestation levels and indoor air samples at the start of the study and one month after intervention. They also measured insecticide levels in the maternal and umbilical cord blood taken at delivery.

In the intervention group, cockroach infestations decreased to the point where the results could not be due to chance. Likewise, levels of the insecticide chemical piperonyl butoxide were considerably lower following the intervention. In the control group, neither the insects nor the insecticide chemicals decreased in number or concentration.

The study suggests IPM is an effective strategy to reduce pest infestation and subsequent prenatal exposure to the chemicals, the authors concluded.

This research is the latest installment in a series of recent investigations into pesticides and health. Currently, researchers are studying whether conditions like attention deficit disorder, lowered IQs, Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease can be linked to early exposure to pesticides.

Children are most vulnerable to pesticides from formation of the fetus up to 2 years of age. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency warns children may be sensitive to pesticides because their excretory systems are not developed enough to excrete pesticides, and that in relation to their body weight, kids eat and drink more than adults.

In July, United Press International reported utero exposure to the pesticide DDT and its byproduct, DDE, are associated with slower neurodevelopment in early childhood. The study, published in the July issue of Pediatrics, was one of the first to look at child neurodevelopment and DDT. A few studies have looked at the effects of DDE.

"The proof is in the pudding. ... We need to follow these kids to see if this has predictive validity," lead author Brenda Eskenazi, a professor of maternal and child health and epidemiology at the University of California at Berkeley, told UPI in that story.

In addition, Robin Whyatt of Columbia University, the corresponding author on the study in Environmental Health Perspectives, has previously found that birth weight and birth length is lower in children whose mothers were exposed to pesticides.

Although the intricacies of how pesticides impact the human body are not entirely clear, there's no getting around the fact a pesticide is a neurotoxin, developed to kill bugs by paralyzing or over-exciting their neurological systems. Since the chemicals disrupt enzymes in the brain which govern communication, exposure to pesticides could damage a child's brain.

This new research shows mothers in these communities can successfully rely on IPM to reduce their pesticide exposure, the authors concluded.