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Posted on Jun 03, 2008, 8 p.m.
By Jeanelle Topping
Exposure to pesticides can increase risk of diabetes, scientists from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have found.
Exposure to pesticides can increase risk of diabetes, scientists from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have found.
According to research conducted by the NIH's National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and the National Cancer Institute, the link between pesticides and diabetes ranged from a 20 to 200 per cent higher risk.
Users of the chemical trichlorfon, an insecticide once used to control cockroaches, crickets, bedbugs, fleas, flies and ticks, increased the risk of diabetes by 85 per cent.
Co-author of the report, Dr Dale Sandler, chief of the Epidemiology Branch at the NIEHS, stated: "The results suggest that pesticides may be a contributing factor for diabetes along with known risk factors such as obesity, lack of exercise and having a family history of diabetes."
Commenting on the study published in the May issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology, researcher Dr Freya Kamel said: "It clearly shows that cumulative lifetime exposure is important and not just recent exposure."
Statistics show that almost 21 million Americans have diabetes.
