Modern Farmer reported on the results of a 20-year study by the National Institute of Health investigating the connection between pesticides and depression in farmers. Researchers evaluated associations between pesticide exposure and depression in a group of 21,208 agricultural pesticide applicators.
They found ever-use of two pesticide classes, fumigants and organochlorine insecticides, and seven individual pesticides--the fumigants aluminium phosphide and ethylene dibromide; the phenoxy herbicide acetic acid (2,4,5-T); the organochlorine insecticide dieldrin; and the organophosphate insecticides diazinon, malathion, and parathio--were all positively associated with depression in each case group. The research results, as reported in Environmental Health Perspectives, supported a positive association between pesticide exposure and depression, including associations with several specific pesticides.