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Since exposure to toxic agents in the environment may contribute to
developmental, neurological, and mental health problems, the National
Association for the Dually Diagnosed (NADD) has embarked on a project
to advance awareness about the exposure of toxic agents in the
environment. [more information].
NADD Environmental Health Position Statement
Scientific evidence indicates environmental contaminants may
significantly contribute to learning and developmental disabilities.
Toxic agents in the environment, such as lead, mercury, pesticides,
carbon monoxide, radon, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), brominated
flame retardants, and solvents can affect brain development and
function. [Read complete Statement]
Links Between Pesticide Exposure and Mental Health
Exposure to pesticides can have behavioral and psychiatric consequences.
The Mental Health & Environment Working Group, a working group of
the Collaborative on Health and the Environment chaired by NADD, has
released "Health Care Resource: Links Between Pesticide Exposure
and Mental Health." The purpose of this resource is to help
mental health clinicians and health care providers become aware of
the association between pesticide exposure and these consequences and
to provide links to relevant research findings. Click
here to read the Health Care Resource.
A three-fold brochure, "Mental Health Effects Arising from
Pesticide Exposure: A Guide for Healthcare Providers and Mental
Health Practitioners," has also been prepared by the Mental
Health and Environment Working Group. Click
here to download the brochure.
Environmental Health Policy Training
NADD has participated in environmental health policy training. Click
here for details.
You are invited to sign on in support of a
statement entitled “Policy Implications Based on the Scientific
Consensus Statement on Environmental Agents Associated with
Neurodevelopmental Disorders.” To read the “Scientific
Consensus Statement”, the “Policy Implications”
statement, and to sign on in support, click
here
New Endocrine-disrupting Chemicals Factsheet
Endocrine-disrupting chemicals interfere with the body’s
ability to regulate its growth, development, metabolism, and other
functions. The Learning and Developmental Disabilities
Initiative (LDDI) has produced a new “Practice Prevention”
column on Endocrine-disrupting Chemicals. Click
here to read the column. |
Biomonitoring Report
Leading members of the Learning and Developmental Disabilities
Initiative (LDDI), along with other colleagues in the environmental
health field, released a new biomonitoring report, Mind,
Disrupted: How Toxic Chemicals May Affect How We Think and Who We Are.
The official press release occurred just prior to a Senate Hearing
on chemical policy reform conducted by Senator Frank R. Lautenberg
(D-NJ), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Superfund, Toxics, and
Environmental Health. The Mind, Disrupted report and related
fact sheets are available on the website: www.minddisrupted.org.
The site includes a recording of the Senate Hearing on February 4th.
Announcing the Healthy Choices for Healthy Lives Book and Website
Healthy Choices for Healthy Lives is an illustrated book designed to
help individuals with ID and young children without ID to learn about
what they can do to minimize harmful environmental exposures and
maximize their health. Click
here for more information.
How Safe Are “BPA Free” Products?
Some manufacturers of sports bottles are now proudly proclaiming that
their wares are “BPA Free,” but have they merely
substituted one hazard for another? Click
here for details.
Mental Health and Environmental Exposures
A primary focus of the NADD Environmental Health Project for this
year is to raise the awareness of the mental health community about
the role that exposure to environmental toxins may play in causing or
triggering psychiatric symptoms or mental illness. Exposure to lead,
mercury, aluminum, pesticides, solvents, and other chemicals may play
a part in causing psychiatric symptoms, although the factors that
contribute to mental illness are very complex, and the ways and
degrees that toxic exposures contribute to mental illness are not
clearly understood.
To work on this issue, NADD has helped organize and is chairing a
work group on Mental Health and Environment, organized under the
auspices of the Collaborative on Health and the Environment. In
general, the work group is focusing, initially, upon on being more
precise about the science and being about to say what the evidence
suggests and how strong the conclusions are in relationship to
specific environmental toxins.
For additional information, click here.
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Get Involved!
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NADD Environmental Health Committee
- Write environmental health articles for The NADD Bulletin
- Public policy work
- Educate others about toxic agents in the environment
- More
Contact Ed Seliger, Project Coordinator at eseliger@thenadd.org |
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“When an activity raises threats
of harm to human health or the environment, precautionary measures
should be taken even if some cause and effect relationships are not
fully established scientifically. In this context the proponent of an
activity, rather than the public, should bear the burden of proof.”
[Wingspread Statement on the Precautionary
Principle, 1998] [for more information on the
Precautionary Principle, click here] |
