The danger of pesticide exposure for expectant mothers has been confirmed by a study of half a million people in the San Joaquin Valley of California, a heavy-pesticide region in which more than one-third of U.S. vegetables and two-thirds of our fruits and nuts are grown.  Studying birth records, researchers from the University of California, Santa Barbara, found that the top 5 percent of women with the highest exposure had negative effects for all birth outcomes, including low birth weight, gestational length, preterm birth and birth abnormalities.

This article appears in the July 2018 issue of Natural Awakenings.