On February 15, 2014, the news agent Cable News Network (CNN) published online an article about a new scientific article making the case for an overhaul of chemical regulations worldwide. The original article by Philippe Grandjean, Harvard School of Public Health, Bosten, USA, and Philip Landrigan, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, USA appeared in The Lancet Neurology and reviews new insights concerning the impact of environmental chemicals affecting the neural development of unborn children. The authors link the cumulated occurrence of neurodevelopmental disabilities (e.g. autism, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, dyslexia) and further cognitive impairments to the presence of industrial chemicals in everyday products. Grandjean and Landrigan extend the list of developmental neurotoxicants (lead, methylmercury, polychlorinated biphenyls, arsenic, and toluene) from a 2006 publication (Gandjean and Lanrigan, 2006) with new chemicals of concern: manganese, fluoride, chlorpyrifos, dichloro diphenyl trichloroethane (DDT), tetrachloro ethylene, and the polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). Some of these chemicals are found in food contact materials (FCMs). The scientists demand a global prevention strategy including the toxicological assessment of untested chemicals and the establishment of a new international clearinghouse coordinating the translation of science into prevention.
Read more
Saundra Young (February 15, 2014). “Putting the next generation of brains in danger” Cable News Network (CNN).
References
Philippe Grandjean and Philip Landrigan (published online February 14, 2014). “Neurobehavioural effects of developmental toxicity”. The Lancet Neurology, 3, 330-338.
Philippe Grandjean and Philip Landrigan (2006). “Developmental neurotoxicity of industrial chemicals”. Lancet, 368, 2167-78.
