Bordeaux, France, farmers appear to be more careful dealing with pesticides, because new research shows that exposure to pesticides for a long time can increase the risk of senile or dementia .

This finding is based on research conducted on 614 vineyard workers in France between the ages of 40 to 50 years and has worked in agriculture for at least 20 years.

Farmers are often exposed to pesticides are tested for their intellectual twice, using nine kinds of tests designed to measure memory and memory, language, verbal ability and response to an incident.

During 6 years of research, found that farmers exposed to pesticides with different variations. About 20 percent of farmers have never exposed to pesticides at all and more than half are directly exposed to pesticides.

The rest, are not directly exposed to pesticides through processing or just prior to eating the crops.

Results 7 of 9 tests conducted showed that farmers exposed to pesticides directly five times faster experiencing dementia or dementia compared to other farmers.

Farmers who are directly exposed to pesticides show test results Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), which is much lower. MMSE is a test of cognitive function and is often used to determine whether someone has dementia.

“The decline in the value of MMSE is very striking, given the relatively short study duration and the relatively young age of the participants,” explained Isabelle Baldi of the Institute de Sante Publique d’Epidemiologie, in Bordeaux, France, Thursday (12/02/2010) .

According to Baldi, besides increasing the risk of dementia, long-term pesticide exposure may also reduce cognitive function is more severe and potentially causing neurodegenerative disease (decreased nerve function), such as Alzheimer’s.

These findings have been published in the online report Occupational and Environmental Medicine December 2, 2010.