Pesticides 'may raise dementia risk'

Researchers monitored the intellectual capacity of more than 600 vineyard workers for up to six years. They found that those who had been directly exposed to pesticides were more likely to perform worse in cognitive tests at the end of the study period than they had at the start.

The workers exposed to pesticides were twice as likely to drop two points in the mini mental state exam, one of nine tests carried out on them, as those who had not been exposed.

The authors of the study said: "The mild impairment we observed raises the question of the potentially higher risks of injury in this population and also of the possible evolution towards neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease or other dementias."