Parents may want to pay close attention to the kind of materials in their house, as a common insecticide could actually be damaging their child's intelligence quotient.

According to a new study from the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, following the increased use of pyrethroid insecticides due to the EPA mandated phasing out of chlorpyrifos, researchers believe the new insecticides may actually be doing even more harm to a child's mental development.

The study followed a group of 725 pregnant women and measured their insecticide exposure. They found that the women who experienced the highest rate of exposure during pregnancy were more likely to have children who had cognitive and motor delays.

"This drop in IQ points is similar to that observed in response to lead exposure," said Megan Horton of the Mailman School of Public Health and lead researcher. "While perhaps not impacting an individual's overall function, it is educationally meaningful and could shift the distribution of children in the society who would be in need of early intervention services."

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