Children as young as five in the cotton growing areas of Bathinda are showing signs of severe short and long-term mental damage due to exposure to pesticides, according to a study. Greenpeace and a local non-governmental organisation, Kheti Virasat, which studied the mental health of children from the 80-km cotton-growing belt of Bathinda, said the children here tended to suffer more from arrested mental development. The mental state of children from this belt was compared with another sample group from Ropar and the researchers said children from the former group tended to score lower on mental ability tests, including reasoning and analytical skills. The exposure to pesticides in Ropar is comparatively lower than in Bathinda's cotton belt, according to Greenpeace.