And Here I Thought Bananas Were Good For Mothers

By: Michelle Esquivel
December 5, 2014

                                                        Retrieved from https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/publication/4692078

In Costa Rica, metabolite ethylene thiourea (ETU) is used as a pesticide for large scale banana plantations. During the study on infant health, high levels of ETU were found in the urine of pregnant women work and live nearby the plantations. The effects of ETU on the fetus resulted in altered thyroid functions which are essential for the fetal brain development(Van Wendel de Joode et al. 2014). The gathering of the statistical analysis on the effect of pregnant woman and fetus provide an insight on the importance of reducing the use of ETU or eliminating it all together. However, pregnant women refuse to stop working on the fields knowing the damages of the aerial pesticide due to the fact that that might be their only source of income for their families.

Resources:

Van Wendel de Joode, B., Mora, A.M., Cordoba, L., Cano, J.C., Quesada, R., Faniband, M., Wesseling, C., Ruepert, C., Oberg, M., & Eskenzi, B. (2014). Aerial application of mancozeb and urinary ethylene thiourea (ETU) concentrations among pregnant women in Costa Rica. Retrieved from https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/publication/4692078