steveh_131
Grandmaster
A new study coming from the Department of Environmental Health at the Harvard School of Public Health.
So far, the chemicals they suggest we protect our children from include:
So far, the chemicals they suggest we protect our children from include:
- Lead
- Methylmercury - Often found in fish
- Polychlorinated biphenyls - Wastes produced by production or disposal of electronic equipment
- Arsenic - Also mostly from fish
- Toluene - Often from exhaust or exposure to gasoline, laquers, etc.
- Manganese - Welding fumes, some pesticides
- Fluoride - Government drinking-water
- Chlopyrifos - One of the most widely-used pesticides in agriculture
- Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane - DDT
- Tetrachloroethylene - Dry cleaning
- Polybrominated diphenyl ethers - a flame retardant found in many building materials, electronics, and other things
Neurodevelopmental disabilities, including autism, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, dyslexia, and other cognitive impairments, affect millions of children worldwide, and some diagnoses seem to be increasing in frequency. Industrial chemicals that injure the developing brain are among the known causes for this rise in prevalence. In 2006, we did a systematic review and identified five industrial chemicals as developmental neurotoxicants: lead, methylmercury, polychlorinated biphenyls, arsenic, and toluene. Since 2006, epidemiological studies have documented six additional developmental neurotoxicants—manganese, fluoride, chlorpyrifos, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, tetrachloroethylene, and the polybrominated diphenyl ethers. We postulate that even more neurotoxicants remain undiscovered. To control the pandemic of developmental neurotoxicity, we propose a global prevention strategy. Untested chemicals should not be presumed to be safe to brain development, and chemicals in existing use and all new chemicals must therefore be tested for developmental neurotoxicity. To coordinate these efforts and to accelerate translation of science into prevention, we propose the urgent formation of a new international clearinghouse.