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New findings have put more weight behind the evidences suggesting that high exposure to certain pesticides increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Another study has drawn a link between high levels of pesticides in blood tests and increased risk of type 2 diabetes.

Researchers of Finland's National Institute for Health and Welfare team measured blood levels of several persistent organic pollutants in about 2,000 older adults, Reuters reported.

The results showed that 15 participants with high blood levels of organochlorine pesticides were suffering from type 2 diabetes.

In addition, the more the level of the toxic chemicals increased in an individual's blood stream, the greater became the risk of diabetes.

Those with levels in the top 10 percent were about twice as likely to have diabetes as their counterparts in the bottom 10 percent, the researchers wrote in the journal Diabetes Care.

Previous trials have found a connection between diabetes risk and exposure to older pesticides known as organochlorines, PCBs and some other chemicals known by as "persistent organic pollutants."

Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) are chemical substances that persist in the environment, accumulate in animal and human body fat through the food web, and pose a risk of causing adverse effects to human health and the environment.

Organochlorines are now banned in many developed countries, after research linked them to cancer and other potential health risks. PCBs, which were once used in everything from appliances to fluorescent lighting to insecticides, were banned in the 1970s.

Some persistent organic pollutants have found to impair the body's ability to regulate blood sugar or promote obesity, which are both associated with developing diabetes, said lead researchers Riikka Airaksinen.

The scientists suggested that the toxic chemicals and body fat "may have a synergistic effect on the risk of type 2 diabetes."

Although, the new study and the previous ones have showed an association between exposure to organochlorine pesticides and diabetes and not a cause an effect relation, the researchers and some other scientists are concerning that association may be causal.

"There is a large scientific background of cell-based and animal research that shows that these compounds disrupt endocrine (hormonal) function," said Dr. David R. Jacobs from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis who has worked on some of the studies.