http://news.yahoo.com/weedkillers-tied-depression-farmers-193011410.html

Weedkillers tied to depression in farmers

By Kerry Grens

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Farmers who used weedkillers were more than twice as likely to be treated for depression than farmers who didn't use the chemicals in a new study from France.

Whether the weedkillers are causing depression "is not clear," said Marc Weisskopf, the study's lead author and an associate professor at the Harvard School of Public Health. "But (the result) suggests we should not be ignoring herbicides just because they're targeting plants."

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There was no difference in the risk of having depression among the farmers who had used fungicides or insecticides, compared to those who hadn't used any pesticide.

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Furthermore, farmers who had greater exposure - either more hours or longer years using herbicides - also had a greater chance of having depression than farmers who had used weedkillers less.

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SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1dXuiro American Journal of Epidemiology, online July 12, 2013.