who was conceived in the spring - summer?
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who was conceived in the spring - summer?
May 9, 2007 -- Spring babies may be less intelligent, startling new research shows.
A study of more than 1.6 million elementary and high school kids between 8 and 15 found those conceived in May through August scored lower on math and language tests than children conceived during other months.
Dr. Paul Winchester of the Indiana University School of Medicine, who presented results this week at the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies, blamed environmental villains.
Higher levels of pesticides and nitrates can be found in surface water during the summer months, he noted.
"Exposure to pesticides and nitrates can alter the hormonal milieu of the pregnant mother and the developing fetal brain," he said.
"The pesticides we use to control pests in fields and our homes and the nitrates we use to fertilize our crops and even our lawns are at their highest level in summer."
Winchester said the research needs further study.
"There should be no reasons particularly why the month of conception should change your [test] scores," he said. "And yet from our chain of evidence our hypothesis was that if pesticides do alter the friendly environment of the developing fetus than that might be reflected in lower scores.
"And unfortunately that's what we found. . . . There is something going on."
The same contaminants appear to play a part in the frightening rise of preemies in the U.S., Winchester says; his work has already shown pesticides and nitrates affect birth defect rates.
A separate study by Winchester found preemie birth rates peak when pesticide and nitrate levels in surface water are highest, in May and June, and drop when those levels are lowest, in August and September.
Winchester analyzed more than 27 million live births in the U.S. from 1996 to 2002; preemie births were 11.9 percent of live births in May and June and 10.8 in August and September.
"As a neonatologist, I am seeing a growing number of birth defects, and preterm births, and I think we need to face up to environmental causes," he said.
Pesticides are already known to cause thyroid problems in pregnant women - a condition thought to affect the intelligence of the unborn child.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/05092007...athy_burke.htm
A study of more than 1.6 million elementary and high school kids between 8 and 15 found those conceived in May through August scored lower on math and language tests than children conceived during other months.
Dr. Paul Winchester of the Indiana University School of Medicine, who presented results this week at the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies, blamed environmental villains.
Higher levels of pesticides and nitrates can be found in surface water during the summer months, he noted.
"Exposure to pesticides and nitrates can alter the hormonal milieu of the pregnant mother and the developing fetal brain," he said.
"The pesticides we use to control pests in fields and our homes and the nitrates we use to fertilize our crops and even our lawns are at their highest level in summer."
Winchester said the research needs further study.
"There should be no reasons particularly why the month of conception should change your [test] scores," he said. "And yet from our chain of evidence our hypothesis was that if pesticides do alter the friendly environment of the developing fetus than that might be reflected in lower scores.
"And unfortunately that's what we found. . . . There is something going on."
The same contaminants appear to play a part in the frightening rise of preemies in the U.S., Winchester says; his work has already shown pesticides and nitrates affect birth defect rates.
A separate study by Winchester found preemie birth rates peak when pesticide and nitrate levels in surface water are highest, in May and June, and drop when those levels are lowest, in August and September.
Winchester analyzed more than 27 million live births in the U.S. from 1996 to 2002; preemie births were 11.9 percent of live births in May and June and 10.8 in August and September.
"As a neonatologist, I am seeing a growing number of birth defects, and preterm births, and I think we need to face up to environmental causes," he said.
Pesticides are already known to cause thyroid problems in pregnant women - a condition thought to affect the intelligence of the unborn child.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/05092007...athy_burke.htm
