PHOTO^ FLICKRUSERMORISIUSCOSMONAUTtalking points
FINDINGSPoison Out, Poison In
Thanks to decades of regulation, childhood exposure
to heavy metals like lead and mercury, which are highly
toxic to the developing brain and nervous system, is on the
decline in the US. The bad news is that another group of
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to IQ loss in our kids.
Flame retardants and pesticides, which are the target
of far fewer restrictions, have now surpassed heavy metals
as the biggest cause of intellectual disability in the US,
according to a new study by researchers at New York
University’s Grossman School of Medicine.
The researchers found while IQ loss from the toxic
chemicals analyzed in their study dropped from 27 million
IQ points in 2001 and 2002 to 9 million IQ points in 2015
and 2016, there was a concerning shift in which type of
chemicals represented the greatest risk. They discovered
that among toxin-exposed children, the proportion of
cognitive loss resulting from exposure to chemicals used in
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(PDBEs), and organophosphate pesticides increased from
67 percent to 81 percent during the same study period.
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sures in general continue to represent a formidable risk to
Americans’ physical, mental, and economic health,” says
Abigail Gaylord, lead investigator of the study that was
published in the journal Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology
in January. “Unfortunately, the minimal policies in place
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enough,” says Gaylord, who is a doctoral candidate in the
Department of Population Health at NYU Langone.
The substances the researchers analyzed are found in
household products from furniture upholstery to canned
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to organs. Experts say exposure at a young age to any of
these toxins can cause learning disabilities, autism, and
behavioral issues.
The researchers found that everyday contact with
these substances during the 16-year study period resulted
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intellectual disability. They estimate that overall childhood
exposures cost the nation $7.5 trillion in lost economic
productivity and other societal costs over the study period.
Americans can avoid exposure to these toxins by avoiding
the use of household products or foods that contain them.
“Frequently opening windows to let persistent chemicals
found in furniture, electronics, and carpeting escape, and
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these toxins,” says senior study author Leonardo Trasande,
who is chief of environmental pediatrics at NYU Langone’s
pediatrics department. But he noted that the impact of
these chemicals may be worse than the study captured since
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than the four toxins highlighted in the investigation. There
are also other potential consequences beyond IQ loss.
“All the more reason we need closer federal monitoring
of these substances,” he says.