NADD - An association for persons with developmental disabilities and mental health needs

Environmental Health articles published in the NADD Bulletin:

Neurotoxic Chemicals in the Body: The LDDI/Coming Clean Biomonitoring Project

In recent years, evidence that we all carry some burden of toxic chemicals within our bodies has been growing. Over 80,000 synthetic chemicals are registered for use in the United States today, yet less than 10 percent of these chemicals have been tested for their effects on human health. [more]

Wireless Health Issues for Children and Young People With Learning Disabilities and Special Health Needs

Educators and parents need to understand more about the possible risks of placing children with learning disabilities and special needs in wireless environments. A growing body of scientific evidence suggests that chronic, low-level exposure to radiofrequency (RF) from cell phones, cordless phones, cell towers and wireless connections to the internet may be harmful, particularly to children (BioInitiative Working Group, 2007; Carpenter & Sage, 2008; Hardell & Sage, 2008; Sage & Carpenter, in press; Sage & Johansson, 2007; Sage, Johansson & Sage, 2007a, b). We need to understand more about the potential risks of exposures and what sources need to be assessed before we allow the proliferation of wireless radiofrequency sources in schools. [more]

The Responsibility Gap in Chemical Management

We are exposed to an array of unnecessary and potentially harmful chemicals from the moment of conception, through gestation, childhood, and during adulthood. Exposure to these chemicals occurs at home, at school, and at work, from the food we eat, the air we breath, and the water we drink ultimately over our entire life. We are exposed to ancient hazards, such lead, mercury, and arsenic, as well as to an alphabet soup of manufactured chemicals such as PCBs, dioxins, DDT, PBDEs, BPA, phthalates, insecticides, herbicides, and others. These chemicals are present in cosmetics, toys, household dust, plastics, shower curtains, car interiors, and even our food. Scientists have demonstrated that many of the chemicals in our products and chemical contaminates in our environment can cause learning disabilities and neurodevelopmental disorders (Gilbert, 2007). Who is responsible for ensuring that these chemicals do not cause harm? Two recent books provide some interesting contributions to the discussion about who is responsible for the chemicals in our environment. [more]

Book Review: Poisoned Profits: The Toxic Assault on Our Children

Poisoned Profits: The Toxic Assault on Our Children is a passionate and powerful account of the many issues surrounding the use of harmful industrial chemicals in the environment. In this book, Philip and Alice Shabecoff describe the devastating effects that environmental toxins can have on children and fetuses. They argue that chemicals present in the environment are a danger to the health and well-being of humans, animals, and the overall environment, and that children are particularly vulnerable. Exposure to these pervasive chemicals is unavoidable, as they are present in our air, food, and water. [more]

NADD Participates in Environmental Health Policy Training

NADD had a significant institutional presence at the Learning and Developmental Disabilities Initiative Policy Training held in Baltimore on January 13-14, 2009. The training concluded on January 14th with attendees practicing their newly developed skills by visiting members of Congress in Washington, DC to discuss the reform of federal toxic chemical control policy. [more]

The Toxic Assault on Our Children

It took us a few years after our first grandchild was born before we became aware that today's children are different from generations before, that so many now suffer from one type of chronic illness or another. Is that really so and, if so, why, we wondered. As environmental journalists, we began to investigate. Our findings shocked us. There is indeed an epidemic of disorders, striking one out of three American children, triggered by the unimaginable load of toxics in their everyday lives. The toxification of the environment is as grave a threat to the future as global climate change. [more]

A Model Healthy Home

The Healthy Home is a unique "hands on" model residence and interactive museum that was created to help people understand and reduce environmental health hazards that may lurk in their homes. The Healthy Home grew out of a community-based effort to reduce lead poisoning in Rochester, NY (www.leadsafeby2010.org). Community groups observed that many people, especially residents of high-risk low income housing, were more likely to address environmental hazards if they had hands-on demonstrations of solutions, rather than just written materials. They also noted that in addition to lead hazards, there are many potential health threats in homes, including asthma triggers like mold and indoor tobacco smoke, toxic chemicals, and unintentional injury risks. [more]

Precautionary Principle - Supporting a Healthy Environment for All

Our interaction with the environment begins at conception and continues throughout our lives. A profound change occurred along with the chemical revolution, we are now exposed to a wide range and mixture of manufactured chemicals and environmental contaminates that we know cause learning and developmental disorders as well as other diseases (Gilbert, 2007b; Schettler, Stein, Reich, Valenti & Wallinga, 2000). The challenge is to reduce our exposure to these hazardous agents to ensure that all people can reach and maintain their full potential. [more]

Toxicological Theories of Mental Illness: A Clash of Paradigms and Call for Reunification

The Introduction to my textbook on the psychiatric effects of chemical exposures (Brown, 2002) describes over 20 major chemical disasters in the 20th century that caused mass psychiatric casualties due to neurotoxic chemicals. The number of disasters would have been larger had I included non-neurotoxic chemicals. This is because fear alone of physical injury from chemical exposure can cause post-traumatic stress disorder. [more]

Sunscreen, Nanoparticles, and Individuals with MI/ID

Individuals with MI/ID often require psychotropic medication to control maladaptive symptomology (including aggression, property destruction, self-injury, and pica) and to improve their adaptive functioning. But several classes of psychotropics can increase an individual’s risk for sunburn, including members of the antipsychotic, antidepressant, and mood stabilizer families (RX List, 2008). Application of sunscreen can minimize an individual’s risk for sunburn and skin cancer, but experts have expressed concern over the use of nanoparticles in sunscreen (Amato, 2004; Burfeind, 2007; Consumer Reports, 2007a). Individuals with MI/ID may have an impaired ability to communicate symptoms of developing sunburn; caregivers who fail to protect their patients from sunburn could be charged with medical neglect. This author is aware of an incident involving a resident with MI/ID who was thought to have boarded the bus to the day program, but who instead went and sat in a nearby swing. This was unnoticed by the caregivers. The day program assumed the individual stayed home. The error was not discovered until the bus returned, six hours later. The resident had second degree burns and was dehydrated; one caregiver was fired and one disciplined. [more]

Organophosphate Pesticides and Children’s Health

Children are more vulnerable than adults to dangers of all kinds. We invest in car seats, babysitters, and childproofing our homes knowing that environments that seem safe for adults are wrought with potential disaster for the very young. However, we do not adequately protect kids from chemical pollution in our environment, even though it too may be much more dangerous to children than to adults. "The science is in: Children are born with lower levels of our bodies' natural defenses against toxic pesticides," said Dr. Gina Solomon, M.D., a physician and senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). "Yet EPA too often ignores the clear scientific evidence and fails to protect the most vulnerable people from these dangerous chemicals." Recent research conducted at the University of California, Berkeley echoes this statement. The 2006 scientific study shows that children can be up to 164 times more sensitive than adults to pesticides that frequently contaminate agricultural communities. [more]

Health Considerations of Bottled Water

Consuming commercially bottled water has become a popular practice for millions of Americans, often due to the perception that bottled water is “safe,” “clean,” and “healthy.” But is this perception accurate? This article will review recent findings regarding the safety of bottled water and other plastic objects, identify groups who appear specifically at-risk for health concerns, and offer some conclusions, based upon current research.[more]

Breaking the Cycle of Environmental Health Disparities

None of us is inseparable from our environment. We are all clearly products of both our genetic endowment and the environment in which we grow up and in which we live. Environmental factors are not only physical or chemical, but are also social and economic. In this day and age we cannot ignore the major debate on climate change and the impact of global warming on life on our planet Earth. Although that debate is beyond the scope of this article, our awareness of the microcosm and macrocosm of our environments will help us to better understand and then to better affect positive change for us, for our children and our children’s children and fellow human beings and fellow living creatures. [more]

Deceived, Disabled, Dejected, Dehumanized, Dismissed, and Dying: The Widespread Dilemma of MCS Disability

My name is Toni Temple and I am a non-traditional, self-appointed poster child. I'm "non-traditional" because I am not an adorable child with Shirley Temple curls standing on crutches that you might have seen growing up in slick March of Dimes or Polio Prevention ad campaigns. Heck, I'm not even a child - I'm 63 years old. And I'm "self-appointed" because the disease from which I suffer is not recognized or acknowledged by significant portions of the medical and health care communities. I am a victim of, and poster child for, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS). A better understood term would be chemical poisoning, but MCS is the name they gave us. [more]

Practice Prevention: Children’s Environmental Health

What’s the fuss?
Today’s children are exposed every day to a wide variety of environmental chemicals in the food they eat, the water they drink and the air they breathe. These chemicals can be found in everyday products that are under your kitchen sink or in your laundry room, basement, bathroom or garage. Chemicals in some plastics, pesticides, flame retardants, solvents, and even baby care products are known to be harmful to children, particularly to their developing nervous systems and brains. Heavy metals, such as lead and mercury, and industrial chemicals including PCBs, arsenic and perchlorate as to the known environmental hazards that our children face. [more]

Environmental Fact Sheet

Linking Environmental Exposures with Psychological Disorders
The role of neurotoxicants in the etiology of psychological disorders is increasingly being recognized. A considerable body of research shows that neurotoxic exposures may be associated with deficits in IQ, learning, memory, and attention as well as behavioral changes. Less welldeveloped but emerging data reveal that exposure to environmental agents with neurotoxic effects may result in a spectrum of psychological disturbances, such as anxiety, depression, conduct disorders and schizophrenia. Most studies and clinical reports focus on high-dose exposures that would only be encountered by accident or perhaps in an occupational setting. There are even fewer studies of the impacts of low-dose and chronic exposure to neurotoxic agents and study results are often mixed. In short, new research suggests that psychological disorders can be influenced by environmental agents though the data are limited in many, but not all cases. [more]

Arsenic, A Practice Prevention article prepared by the Institute for Children’s Environmental Health

“Arsenic is in our environment, and children may be less able to process it out of their bodies than adults. Exposure to arsenic can result in changes in the brain, resulting in lower IQs, impaired memory, learning problems and behavioral problems.
“The most common sources of exposure are arsenic in the soil and water and on outdoor surfaces. Arsenic is used to treat wood, minimizing fungal decay and insect infestation, and can be found in decks, playground equipment and picnic tables. [more]

Safe and Healthy Indoor Air is for Everyone!

People with developmental disabilities and mental health needs have the right to live, work, learn, worship and play in environments that are healthy and safe. The health impacts of contaminated homes, work places, and communities pose a greater risk for the children and people who already have compromising health issues and are faced with health disparities greater than the general population. Persons with developmental disabilities and some forms of mental illnesses are more vulnerable to further injury from toxins compared to the general population because they often spend more time indoors, they may have less control over exposure to and escape from toxins, they may have more vulnerable immune responses to toxicant exposure, and they may be taking more pharmaceutical medications than other exposed populations. [more]