Can exposure to persistent pesticides make people sick?
Acute large dose exposures to the organochlorines typically affect the nervous system, causing problems such as tremor, numbness and tingling of the extremities, and seizures. Early signs of acute poisoning include disturbances of sensation of the face and extremities, headache, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, incoordination, and tremors. More severe poisonings may cause seizures and possibly coma. Organochlorines can accumulate in a persons body over time but the health effects associated with such exposure are not well defined. People who work with organochlorine pesticides for a long time have shown biochemical changes consistent with liver injury. Whether the effects of organochlorine pesticides cause health problems in the general population is unknown. Whether exposure to organochlorine pesticides at the levels reported among the participants of the Churchill County leukemia study can cause health problems also is not known.
