Environmental Health News Highlights
06/21/10
Scientific and Policy Statements on Environmental Agents
Steven G. Gilbert (Institute of Neurotoxicology and Neurological Disorders,) ,Elise Miller (, Collaborative on Health and the Environment), Joyce Martin (American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities) and Laura Abulafia (American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities) published Scientific and policy statements on environmental agents associated with neurodevelopment disorders in the June, 1910 issue of the Journal of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. The article discusses the Scientific and Policy Consensus Statements on environmental agents associated with neurodevelopmental disorders prepared by the Collaborative on Health and the Environment’s (CHE) Learning and Developmental Disabilities Initiative (LDDI). For more information, Click Here.
05/08/10
Mother's Day Message
Mother’s Day is this Sunday and this year, we’re asking for a special gift for
moms across the nation: a healthier future, free of toxic chemicals. Moms,
dads, sons, daughters, and grandparents from coast to coast are raising their
voices – and their cameras – in support of new legislation that would prevent
harm to our health from toxic chemicals. Together we’re sending the message
that chemicals linked to cancer, learning disabilities, reproductive disorders
and other chronic health epidemics don’t belong in the products we use at
home and at work. And that the time for change is now.
03/23/10
Chlorpyrifos
A recent research study published in American Journal of Public Health examines the impact of individual housing and neighborhood characteristics on the relationship between exposure to chlorpyrifos and neurological development. Chlorpyrifos is an organophosphate pesticide that has been banned in residential products because of its unacceptable risks to children’s health but exists in some areas of the US. The authors found that childhood developmental delay was affected by both exposures and neighborhood characteristics. Poverty and exposure were independently associated with lower developmental scores.
03/03/10
Biomonitoring
EHI joined with other learning and developmental disabilities groups (The Learning and Developmental Initiative (LDDI), AAIDD, the Learning Disabilities Association of America (LDA), and the Autism Society of America (ASA)) to sponsor a Biomonitoring Project on chemicals linked to neurodevelopmental health outcomes. Biomonitoring assesses human exposures to natural and synthetic chemicals, based on sampling and analysis of an individual's tissues and fluids.
We all carry an assortment of industrial chemicals in our bodies, including manmade chemicals like bisphenol-A and PCBs and heavy metals like mercury and lead. Some industrial chemicals, like perchlorate, stay in the body only a short time (hours or days) before being excreted while others are broken down into chemical components and still others accumulate in fatty tissues and remain there for years. The sum of industrial chemicals in a person's body has been called the person’s "body burden".
03/03/10
Teleconferences
To advance the understanding of current research regarding toxic exposures and developmental disabilities (DD), this well-attended research and science teleconference series was developed. The 2009 teleconference series highlighted the global implications of chemical policy on neurodevelopment; protecting our most vulnerable populations from toxic exposures; the impact of prenatal tobacco smoke on neurodevelopment; the serious implications of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) on the developing brain; and AAIDD’s growing role in chemical policy reform.
03/03/10
Expectant Moms
“Expecting Moms” is an EHI publication that informs prospective mothers of environmental exposures that may impact healthy development of a fetus or infant. The brochure covers in-home exposures, workplace exposures and outdoor exposures and is distributed at Planned Parenthood clinics, doctors’ offices, and any other accessible health clinics or community centers. “Expecting Moms” has also been translated into Spanish.See tab En Español available on the website under Projects and Activities.
10/01/09
Environmental Factors in Birth Defects
An October article in Environmental Health Perspectives dramatically illustrates the connection between environmental exposures and birth defects. Read the whole article at EHP http://www.ehponline.org/members/2009/117-10/focus.html
Environmental Health Perspectives
07/20/09
Air pollution -- IQ Linked
Groundbreaking study shows that there is a link between children's lower IQs and their ex[posure to air pollution prenatally. Washington Post
|
