Oz Isn’t the Only Doctor Who Doesn’t Get Pesticides

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I recently noted that the American Association of Pediatrics has issued a strong statement on the importance of minimizing kids’ exposure to pesticides. What about the doctors who look over at the stages when they’re most vulnerable, before they’ve even become kids—obstetricians and gynecologists? They evidently haven’t wised up on the issue. Here’s Scientific American:

A new nationwide survey of 2,600 obstetricians and gynecologists found that most do not warn their pregnant patients about chemicals in food, consumer products or the environment that could endanger their fetuses. More than half said they don’t warn about mercury, and hardly any of them give advice about lead, pesticides, air pollution or chemicals in plastics or cosmetics.

And here’s my prized colleague Kate Sheppard’s take on that study.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And the essential ingredient that makes all this possible? Readers like you.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to devote the time and resources to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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