Learning and Behavioral Disabilities:
Is There an Environmental Connection?

This is the Fall 1999 Newsletter Featured Article.

New GBPSR/Clean Water Fund Project Addresses Toxic Chemical Influences on Developmental Disabilities

Developmental, learning, and behavioral disabilities including attention deficit disorder (ADD) and autism that prevent our children from reaching their full human potential are widespread. Nearly 12 million children in the United States under the age of 18 suffer from one or more developmental disability.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that 70 percent of developmental deficits have no known cause. However, the developmental neurotoxicity of a number of naturally occurring and synthetic chemicals has been recognized for years. Research demonstrates that pervasive toxic substances, such as mercury, lead, PCBs, dioxins, pesticides and others can contribute to neurobehavioral and cognitive disorders. A review of the top twenty chemicals reported to be emitted under the 1997 Toxics Release Inventory reveals that over half of the 20 are known or suspected neurotoxins. Seven hundred million pounds of emissions of these chemicals are released by facilities directly into the air or the water.

Body of Evidence Growing

Scientists are beginning to acknowledge and study the links between exposures to environmental toxicants and behavioral and learning disorders. PSR has recently been involved in two conferences that addressed this issue. The first was a symposium of the Learning Disabilities Association entitled Chemical Hormone Imposters and Child Development: Learning, Behavior and Function. The second was planned and presented by PSR Drs. Phil Landrigan and Michael McCally of Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and held at the New York Academy of Medicine. Both Environmental Influences on Children: Brain, Development and Behavior in New York, and the forum in Atlanta presented provocative information about the growing body of evidence linking chemical exposures to the epidemic of developmental disabilities.

GBPSR/Clean Water Fund Project Funded by John Merck Fund and Jessie B. Cox Trust

Prior to these conferences, GBPSR had begun to develop a project with the Clean Water Fund of New England to address these same issues. We saw it as a natural follow-on to Generations at Risk. With funding from the John Merck Fund and more recently the Jessie B. Cox Charitable Trust, we are now engaged in a joint project which focuses on environmental exposures to toxic chemicals as a potential contributor to the widespread incidence of developmental disorders in children.

GBPSR is preparing a scientific report which is scheduled for release in the winter of 2000. The report frames the problem, reviews the clinical spectrum of learning and behavior disorders, reviews the scope of the chemical problem, and summarizes the key research on the link between these disorders and toxic chemicals.

Clean Water Fund is offering an educational program to organizations and networks of parents, educators, and therapists that presents a summary of the research and provides prevention steps which individuals can implement in their daily lives.