2012 systematic review of pesticide health effects : Systematic review of pesticide health effects

While the study of agricultural occupational pesticide exposure and negative health outcomes remains challenging, the accumulation of studies showing significant associations between exposure and asthma, chronic obstructive lung diseases, and decreased lung function highlight the importance of reducing exposure when possible and of using proper personal protective equipment when exposure is necess [...] The feasibility of creating a checklist for the assessment of the methodological quality both of randomised and non-randomised studies of health care interventions. [...] Given this broad range in the quality of the studies, we have organized the discussion of the synthesis of the results into those studies ranked above a score of 13, with specific emphasis on those scoring 17 or higher out of 20, and those studies assessed at a score of 13 or below. [...] It is important to note that though the European Union banned the use of atrazine in 2001, this study showed the persistence of atrazine residues in drinking water samples and in the urine samples of pregnant women up to three years after this ban, demonstrating its persistence in the environment. [...] The effects of pesticides on birth outcomes were assessed in the total cohort of women who were enrolled between 1998 and 2002, and then again after, stratifying by year of delivery to examine any effect of the US EPA regulatory action to phase out residential use of diazinon and chlorpyrifos in 2001.