By Randall Grantham
Community Columnist
I read the other day that exposure to pesticides by children can cause some pretty serious health problems. I took note of this because I, as a child, living in a rural agricultural area, had a pretty sustained and intensive exposure to chemicals used in the groves, farms and cow pastures around our home.
Plus, I can remember, during the rainy season, Mosquito Control Trucks driving through our neighborhood, spewing and belching a noxious cloud of god-knows-what fog to kill the mosquito larvae in the swamps, ditches and ponds in the vicinity. All the kids around viewed this as a great event and we would all come out of our houses and run behind the trucks, inhaling the god-knows-what that encompassed the area.
Also, in something that may have been confined to the more urban neighborhoods, some of my city friends recall being out on the school yard playground as planes flew over dropping tiny pellets of fire ant poison. They, like my friends and I, thought it was great fun to run through the artificial clouds of chemicals and we surely ingested more than our share of the stuff.
So, when I read about these studies showing deleterious effects on youths exposed to similar compounds, I followed up to see what kind of serious diseases I might expect to see as I age. Would it be cancer? Or some sort of dementia onset at a sooner than expected point? Maybe even Reggaemylitis?
No, it is a more abstract affliction. Not the pharmaceutical-company-invented disease of restless leg syndrome or even antique brick OCD that I’ve admitted to having, but the much ballyhooed ADD/ADHD disorder. I think that it is also known by some as the ability to multi-task.
Seriously though, ADHD (Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder) is recognized as a medical disorder characterized by struggles to pay attention and impulsive behavior. Yeah, I had that.
These days, it is treated with a number of prescription drugs. Back in the day, my mother treated it with a swat upside the head. Bam! I was cured.
Now, this neurobehavioral disorder is sweeping the country. According to one article I read, the CDC says that 4.5 million kids have been diagnosed with it as of 2006. New Jersey alone claims to have 7.2 million of those afflicted.
I know. The math doesn’t add up. Maybe it’s because their exposure to the dozens of Superfund sites in that state has affected their ability to do higher computations.
As a side note, I found that I come by my brick fetish quite honestly. Not only does my cousin in San Francisco have it and hoarded bricks salvaged from their 1906 earthquake, but our grandfather was the man to see for bricks at Edward’s Sash, Door and Lumber of Tampa in the early to mid 1900’s. He sold USF the yellow bricks used to build their first three or four buildings in the 50’s.
Whether these “disorders” are nature or nurture, a good swat upside the head can seemingly work wonders, either way.
