Photo credit: John Grainger

A 2017 study in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health found that exposure to multiple neurotoxic pesticides near the homes of pregnant women in farming communities is associated with lower IQs in their children. Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley observed that pesticide-use profiles of neurotoxic pesticides used close to the homes of pregnant women living in agricultural communities were associated with IQ deficits in the children later on in life. This study is important because most people are typically exposed to more than one chemical at a time.