8 ans après une première étude dont on peut lire un compte-rendu ici: ▻http://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2006/11/10/scientifiques-et-ong-denoncent-la-pandemie-silencieuse-creee-par-la-pollutio
Neurobehavioural effects of developmental toxicity
▻http://www.thelancet.com/journals/laneur/article/PIIS1474-4422(13)70278-3/fulltext
Summary
In 2006, we did a systematic review and identified five industrial chemicals as developmental neurotoxicants: lead, methylmercury, polychlorinated biphenyls, arsenic, and toluene. Since 2006, epidemiological studies have documented six additional developmental neurotoxicants—manganese, fluoride, chlorpyrifos, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, tetrachloroethylene, and the polybrominated diphenyl ethers. We postulate that even more neurotoxicants remain undiscovered. To control the pandemic of developmental neurotoxicity, we propose a global prevention strategy. Untested chemicals should not be presumed to be safe to brain development, and chemicals in existing use and all new chemicals must therefore be tested for developmental neurotoxicity. To coordinate these efforts and to accelerate translation of science into prevention, we propose the urgent formation of a new international clearinghouse.
Disorders of neurobehavioural development affect 10—15% of all births,1 and prevalence rates of autism spectrum disorder and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder seem to be increasing worldwide.2 Subclinical decrements in brain function are even more common than these neurobehavioural developmental disorders. All these disabilities can have severe consequences3—they diminish quality of life, reduce academic achievement, and disturb behaviour, with profound consequences for the welfare and productivity of entire societies.4
The root causes of the present global pandemic of neurodevelopmental disorders are only partly understood. Although genetic factors have a role,5 they cannot explain recent increases in reported prevalence, and none of the genes discovered so far seem to be responsible for more than a small proportion of cases.5 Overall, genetic factors seem to account for no more than perhaps 30—40% of all cases of neurodevelopmental disorders. Thus, non-genetic, environmental exposures are involved in causation, in some cases probably by interacting with genetically inherited predispositions.
Strong evidence exists that industrial chemicals widely disseminated in the environment are important contributors to what we have called the global, silent pandemic of neurodevelopmental toxicity.6, 7 The developing human brain is uniquely vulnerable to toxic chemical exposures, and major windows of developmental vulnerability occur in utero and during infancy and early childhood .8 During these sensitive life stages, chemicals can cause permanent brain injury at low levels of exposure that would have little or no adverse effect in an adult.
Our updated literature review shows that since 2006 the list of recognised human neurotoxicants has expanded by 12 chemicals, from 202 (including ethanol) to 214 (table 1 and appendix)—that is, by about two substances per year. Many of these chemicals are widely used and disseminated extensively in the global environment. Of the newly identified neurodevelopmental toxicants, #pesticides constitute the largest group, as was already the case in 2006. In the same 7-year period, the number of known developmental neurotoxicants has doubled from six to 12 (table 2). Although the pace of scientific discovery of new neurodevelopmental hazards is more rapid today than in the past, it is still slower than the identification of adult neurotoxicants.
Table 1
Industrial chemicals known to be toxic to the human nervous system in 2006 and 2013, according to chemical group
Table 2
Industrial chemicals known to cause developmental neurotoxicity in human beings in 2006 and 2013, according to chemical group
DDT=dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane. DDE=dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene.
* Including ethanol.
#pollution_chimique #produits_chimiques #produits_de_consommation
#développement_cérébral_de_l'enfant
