Warning Over Chemical Risk to Developing Brains

Chemicals that seep into our environment may be causing a silent pandemic of brain diseases, researchers claim, impairing brain development, lowering IQs and costing billions of dollars in lost productivity.

A new review paper in The Lancet lists 201 commercially used chemicals that previous studies have shown are neurotoxic to adults. These include pesticides and cleaning products. Philippe Grandjean, at the University of Southern Denmark, and Philip Ladrigan at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, US, argue that it is likely many of these chemicals pose an even greater risk to fetuses and children.

The list represents a small fraction of the 100,000 chemicals used commercially in the US and Europe, most of which have not been tested for their effects on brain development.

Grandjean and Ladrigan say governments should take a close look at their list of chemicals to determine which ones present a particular risk to their populations because, for example, they are very common. They also urge governments to see what can be done to prevent fetuses being exposed to the chemicals.