Dr. Lorann Stallones, Director of the CSU Graduate Program in Public Health, was quoted in Newsweekfor her work with
the effects of pesticide exposure among farmers.

“One factor disputed among agricultural and mental health professionals is the connection between pesticides and depression. A group of researchers published studies on the neurological effects of pesticide exposure in 2002 and 2008. Lorran Stallones, one of those researchers and a psychology professor at Colorado State University, says she and her colleagues found that farmers who had significant contact with pesticides developed physical symptoms like fatigue, numbness, headaches and blurred vision, as well as psychological symptoms like anxiety, irritability, difficulty concentrating and depression. Those maladies are known to be caused by pesticides interfering with an enzyme that breaks down the neurotransmitter that affects mood and stress responses.

“‘A lot of farmers are very familiar with the pesticides, so they sort of take it for granted,’ Stallones says. ‘It’s an invisible kind of thing, so if you can’t actually feel it, taste it, touch it, you might not believe it’s an issue.’”

The article was published in Newsweek on April 10, 2014 at: http://www.newsweek.com/death-farm-248127.