Kids brains are at risk from many common chemicals

The developing brains of children are very fragile and extremely sensitive to toxic agents. The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has reported that the development of the brains of children is at risk from many common chemicals. Many scientists, health practitioners and children’s health advocates have been calling for renewed attention to the increasing evidence that neurodevelopment in fetuses and children of all ages is at risk from many common and widely available chemicals. Chemicals which are of the greatest concern include lead and mercury; organophosphate pesticides used in agriculture and home gardens; phthalates, which are used in pharmaceuticals, plastics and personal care products; flame retardants which are known as polybrominated diphenyl ethers; and air pollutants which are produced by the combustion of wood and fossil fuels. Polychlorinated biphenyls which were once used as coolants in electrical equipment, also are of great concern. In 1977 PCBs were banned in the U.S. but they can persist in the environment for decades. 

 This study has been published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. University of Illinois comparative biosciences professor Susan Schantz says that aside from being pervasive in air and water these chemicals are also present in everyday consumer products which we use on our bodies and in our homes. It is urgent to decrease exposures to toxic chemicals in order to protect our kids. There is no doubt that kids in America today are at an unusually high risk of developing neurodevelopmental disorders which affect the brain and nervous system including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism, intellectual disabilities, and other learning and behavioral disabilities. There are multiple causes to these complex disorders including social, environmental, and genetic.

It is possible to prevent the contribution of toxic chemicals to these disorders. At this time the system used in the United States to evaluate scientific evidence and make health-based decisions about environmental chemicals is terribly flawed. Chemicals are often introduced into the lives of people without adequate review of their effects on fetal and child health. Schantz says we often don't even know what many chemicals are doing to the neurodevelopmental development of children since they simply haven't been studied. This is shocking and unacceptable. There must be more aggressive initiatives to protect the developing brains of kids from potentially toxic chemicals.