ABSTRACT
A retrospective cohort study on the effect of the suspected teratogenic pesticide N, N'-methylene-bis-(2-amino-1,3,4-thiadiazole) (MATDA) on outcomes of pregnancy was conducted. The exposed group (6,173 pregnancies) was composed of childbearing women who, during their gestation, consumed rice harvested from a field where MATDA had been applied. The control I group (10,145) came from an adjacent county where MATDA had never been used; the control II group (3,326) consisted of women who had been pregnant previous to the introduction of this pesticide in the same region as the exposed group. The validity of the survey was verified by comparability and data-checking studies. After adjustment for the calendar year, maternal age, and pregnancy order, no significant differences were found in rates of spontaneous abortion, fetal death and stillbirth, birth defects, as well as in sex ratio and birth weight between the study groups. The same result was found in the comparison of individual categories of malformation. The rates of the birth defects were 23.84, 21.49, and 22.78 per 1,000 live births for the exposed, internal, and external control groups, respectively. No dose-response relationship was revealed. The results were consistent with previous reports and indicated the difference between animal experiments and human exposures. Although MATDA is teratogenic in animals, it is clear that the pesticide does not adversely effect outcomes of pregnancy in humans as currently applied.
