Psychiatric Times-Neurotoxicants Threaten Childhood Development

January 19, 2002

Neurotoxicants Threaten Childhood Development by Arline Kaplan

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Pervasive and insidious toxicological experiments are being conducted on our

nation's children, warned authors of a national report issued by the Greater

Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility (GBPSR). One million children in

the United States already have blood lead levels of 10 mgrams/dL or above,

which can affect their behavior and cognition. Among children examined in one

study, 90% had a metabolite of the neurotoxic pesticide chlorpyrifos present

in their urine. And, according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

estimates, 1.16 million women of childbearing age eat sufficient amounts of

mercury-contaminated fish to pose a risk of harm to their future children. .

.. .

Basic toxicity information is needed, according to the report authors.

According to the GBPSR, an estimated 80,000 chemicals are in commercial use

in the United States. Since most of them have been synthesized since World

War II, they are relatively new to the human environment in the

evolutionary time frame. Yet the report found that basic toxicity information

is missing from publicly available sources for nearly 75% of the top 3,000

high-production volume substances.

Neurotoxicity data are even less available. While the EPA has had a

validated, accepted guideline for assessing a chemical's toxicity to the

nervous system in immature or developing animals since 1991, as of December

1998, manufacturers had submitted results for only 12 chemicals (nine

pesticides and three solvents). Meanwhile, in August 1999, the EPA announced

a " data call-in " for 140 pesticides considered to be neurotoxic. This

requires manufacturers to conduct and submit tests of acute, subchronic and

developmental neurotoxicity. . . .''

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