Abstract
This paper examines the impact of fertilizer agrichemicals in water on infant and child health using water quality data combined with data on child health outcomes from the Demographic and Health Surveys of India. Because fertilizers are applied at specific times in the growing season, the concentrations of agrichemicals in water vary seasonally and by cropped area as some Indian states plant predominantly summer crops while others plant winter crops. Our identification strategy exploits the differing timing of the planting seasons across states and differing seasonal prenatal exposure to agrichemicals to identify the impact of agrichemical contamination on various measures of child health. The results indicate that children exposed to higher concentrations of agrichemicals during their first month experience worse health outcomes on a variety of measures; these effects are largest among the most vulnerable groups, particularly the children of uneducated poor women living in rural India.
•This study examines the impact of fertilizer agrichemicals on child health in India.•We exploit variation in exposure to fertilizer due to differing cropping patterns.•We find a significant effect of exposure in utero on infant and child health.•The effect is strongest for neo-natal mortality as expected.•The impact is greatest for children of uneducated poor women living in rural India.
