August 18, 2011 by staff
Pesticides Diabetes, An increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes has been found to be associated with certain pesticides, according to a new study. According to Reuters, those with relatively high levels of pesticides in the blood are more likely to develop the disease, especially if they are overweight.
The news agency said the new study by the Finnish National Institute for Health and Social Welfare is not the first to make the connection between diabetes and chemical contaminants. Several previous studies have found the risk associated with diabetes and exposure to older pesticides.
Called “persistent organic pollutants”, organochlorine pesticides, including PCBs and risk. Organochlorines were banned and restricted in the U.S. and other developed countries after the research related to health risks such as cancer. Similarly, PCBs, once used in fluorescent lighting and insecticides were banned in the 1970s.
However, Reuters reported that these persistent organic pollutants in the environment might remain for years after they are gone; it accumulates in animal and human body fat.
The Finnish study also demonstrated the link between diabetes and pesticides by measuring levels of various POPs in the 2,000 older adults. More than 15 percent had type 2 diabetes and the risk was greater among those with the highest levels of organochlorine pesticides. In these people, the risk of diabetes is twice that for people in 10 percent of the levels of pesticides.
The problem was compounded in people who were overweight or obese, leading researchers to believe that contaminants and body fat “can have a synergistic effect on the risk of type 2 diabetes.”
Reuters said that although the study does not establish direct cause pesticides for the development of diabetes, there appears to be a cause-effect relationship between the two.
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