US study finds no link between prenatal pesticide exposure and autism

A large-scale study involving 3,339 mother-child pairs in the United States has found no statistically significant link between prenatal exposure to organophosphate pesticides and the development of autism spectrum traits in children.

Researchers, coordinated by NYU Langone Health and including experts from the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, analyzed urine samples from pregnant women to detect metabolites of organophosphate pesticides. While traces of these chemicals were found in 99 percent of the participants—largely due to the consumption of conventionally grown produce—the levels were consistent with typical population exposure.

At an average age of approximately six years, the children were assessed using the Social Responsiveness Scale to measure social communication difficulties and other neuroatypical behaviors. The study, published in ‘JAMA Pediatrics’, concluded that the presence of these pesticide metabolites in maternal urine was not associated with the severity of autism-related traits in their offspring, regardless of the child's gender or the mother's diet quality.