A link to the cause of ADHD

[Windwalker]

You are what you eat. And, so are your kids. Our government, for many years, has been saying that our food sources are safe. They've been telling us that a certain amount of chemicals in our food is acceptable. (I once heard that one drowned rat in each 100 gallons of pickles was okay, but don't have two.)

Some years ago, when my daughter-in-law was going to college, she got into a project where they tested a farmer's field for chemicals in the plants that were harvested. If it's in the soil, it's in the plant, and in our food. Just read an article that links pesticide to ADHD. Seems that the "acceptable levels" may not be so acceptable after all. And, in coming years, there may be more studies that tell us that all those multi-billion Agra-Chemical industries may not be so good for us after all.

As a kid growing up on a farm in Wisconsin (Yes, Hobo, there was a time I was a kid), my father would not allow anyone that rented one of the fields to spray chemicals on it. He said it would kill his earthworms. Wonder what he would have said if he'd had any of this information....

The harmful chemicals are widespread: A 2008 U.S. Pesticide Residue Program Report found detectable concentrations of one organophosphate alone, malathion, in 28 percent of frozen blueberries, 25 percent of strawberries, and 19 percent of celery sampled. (Malathion is also commonly sprayed out of airplanes and onto communities as part of mosquito-control programs. Organophosphate pesticides, also found in some flea and tick products, have been tied to childhood leukemia, and are believed to be partially responsible for colony collapse disorder, which is killing off honeybees (who pollinate our food crops) at unprecedented rates.

For the rest of you, especially the ones with kids.

Children with substantially higher levels of a breakdown product of neurotoxic organophosphate pesticides were twice as likely to be diagnosed with ADHD. The university researchers conclude that parents should buy organic for their kids. Numerous other researchers stress the importance of women eating organic at least six months before conception and throughout pregnancy, too.
This isn't the first study that has linked this class of pesticides to human health problems. However, other studies looked at farmers or others who work closely with pesticides day in and day out. This study is the first to look at everyday exposure levels in children from around the country. And as it turns out, U.S. kids are exposed to harmful levels of pesticides in their food, day in and day out.
This study looked at organophosphates in particular, ones designed to attack the neurological systems of pests (unfortunately, they harm humans, too). There are about 40 organophosphate pesticides registered with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and most people's exposure to them comes through food, drinking water, and residential pesticide use, according to the EPA.

There was a very large billboard in MN, south of the Twin Cities, on US-169, that said...

PESTICIDE
HERBICIDE
FUNGICIDE
WORRYSIDE

I suspect we'll hear more about this in years to come. For more than 20 years, I've been expecting "THE GREAT AMERICAN BREADBASKET" to be declared THE GREAT AMERICAN WASTELAND. If the true effects of all the chemicals were known, they would be outlawed. And, while I've been told that you can't grow corn without the chemicals, I remember a time before all the sprays, and the corn grew just fine. The more we use the chemicals, the more problems we're going to have.

[Sharlie]

You know what has always confused me. When I was pregnant with my kids, I was told that tylenol is the only thing I can take. I barely took that. It was just standard, you're pregnant you can't drink coffee, take anything, or ride carnaval rides.

Then a few years laters, they have antidepressants and narcatics that they let mothers-to-be take.

These days I see lawyers advertising that if you took certain antidepressants or pain pills while pregnant you can sue. This eerks me. If you are going to blame someone, blame yourselves. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that if these medications are potentially harmful to an adult then they are even more potentially harmful to a newly forming baby.

[Sharlie]

I should add that I took one of my boys to a local recruiters office for the Air Force, they said that so many kids are automatically disqualified due to pyschotic and behavioral medication use ritalin or antidepressants.

I personally don't see anything wrong with ADHD, I think most people are. The standard attention span for an adult is 20 minutes. So what's the problem?

[One]

Whats wrong with ADHD? it just means you need more input and learn a bit different than others...
Amazon.com: The Edison Gene: ADHD and the Gift of the Hunter Child (9780892811281): Thom Hartmann, Lucy Jo Palladino: Books

[Windwalker]

I should add that I took one of my boys to a local recruiters office for the Air Force, they said that so many kids are automatically disqualified due to pyschotic and behavioral medication use ritalin or antidepressants.

I personally don't see anything wrong with ADHD, I think most people are. The standard attention span for an adult is 20 minutes. So what's the problem?

Yeah, but how many of those adults have fried their brains with something else?

My intention was not as much the ADHD thing. Yes, I'd like to see the kids grow up without any more issues than they would get otherwise. My intention was that I believe this is just the tip of the iceberg. I'm waiting for them to connect the dots and link the agri-chemicals with things like cancer. During Nam, "AGENT ORANGE" was a "defoliant". A "GENERAL HERBICIDE". Look at all the issues linked with it. The vast majority of American fields are sprayed with chemicals, and we get to eat them all. This is just looking at one group. Any idea just how many more there are and what they stand to find out about the rest of them?

[One]

chemicals will always be dangerous, we should assume a danger not assume otherwise till proven wrong. Too much of anything is dangerous. By default we should strive to use natural alternatives. Howerver im not sure if we should look at add/adhd as a disease atall, in fact ther is evidence now that there has always been adhd, in fact it is genetic. see the link in my previous post.

[mitchno1]

in our country New Zealand they are blaming chicken eating for making young girls like 10yrs old getting big breasts all the chemicals,bring it on love it .prob be banned now cya

[Mr. Ford95]

in our country New Zealand they are blaming chicken eating for making young girls like 10yrs old getting big breasts all the chemicals,bring it on love it .prob be banned now cya

Now that I would believe. We are seeing some of the same here. Suddenly we have so many kids with peanut allergies to the point that if a kid even smells a peanut they will break out into an allergic reaction. Not sure why it is suddenly such a large problem, methinks it's due to docs these days telling parents what their kids can and can't have until certain ages or not at all. Doesn't matter that their doc ate the same foods growing up and turned out fine, suddenly they aren't safe. Cows being given steroids are being blamed for how large Americans are getting at younger ages. I don't mean large as in obese, I mean larger frames.

[slowmover]

Government declaring that a certain amount of chemicals in our food is okay means that some measly paid bureaucrat gets to take on a much more highly paid position with Monsanto, Dow or the others afterwards. Lobbying Congress and the agencies, no doubt. In the meantime, Congress passed a law for "safety" (win!), the government agency acted on it (win!) and Americans never get cancer. Or, ADHD. Or, . . .it's all a win!! .

Other countries have adopted a standard of proof of no harm before use. But, as they're civilized, that doesn't apply to us as an example worthy of investigating. Our lawmakers only go overseas to play golf. Last I read only the USA has such a high number of ADHD kids. But, as those other countries are civilized, they don't have parasitic predators making billions off of improper prescription drugs in the same way. Could be a connection to that aspect of things.

.

[golfhobo]

Don't worry Windy. The GOP is gonna take our country back for the Tea Partiers and do away with the EPA and all their regulations and scientific studies. That should make us all safer. After all.... what you don't know can't hurt ya, right?

[golfhobo]

Whats wrong with ADHD? it just means you need more input and learn a bit different than others...
Amazon.com: The Edison Gene: ADHD and the Gift of the Hunter Child (9780892811281): Thom Hartmann, Lucy Jo Palladino: Books

I don't think it means you NEED more input. Rather that you process more input and only give the required attention to that input that immediately affects you. This can cause problems when your educational requirements are far below your ability to learn. We DO "learn" differently from average children. As the book details, we are prone to think out of the box, but so often the education system requires us to "learn" what is confined IN the box.

On the other hand... we are not good at multi-tasking. One task will always drag us deeper into it at the expense of the others, yet... we cannot devote our full attention to it because of the distraction of the others. What most of you consider a few simple tasks are, to us, a myriad of experiences we want to explore and learn from. Prioritization is nearly impossible.

I don't know if it's genetic (no one but me in my family has it) and I'm not sure if it is a result of chemicals (I was raised on some basic foods often home grown.) I do believe it is often over-diagnosed, but I'm glad that someone finally explained it to me. Answers alot of questions I had about my childhood.