Toxic Cocktail: How Chemical Pollution Is Poisoning Our Brains

ISBN-13: 9780190260934 / Angielski / Twarda / 2017 / 270 str.

Barbara Demeneix

Opis

In today's world, everyone carries a toxic load of dozens of industrially produced chemicals in their bloodstream. Not only do these adversely affect the health of adults and children, but also, and more worryingly, they damage the development of unborn infants. The amniotic fluid of pregnant women has been found to contain a variety of chemicals, such as pesticides, plasticizers, disinfectant products, flame-retardants, surfactants and UV filters, many of which interfere with fetal physiology, especially thyroid hormone action. Thyroid hormone is vital for brain development, particularly for the fetus during pregnancy and for toddlers. In fact, children born to women who lack this thyroid hormone (or who are unwittingly exposed to thyroid-disrupting chemicals) have lower IQs and more neurodevelopmental problems.

Evolution of the human brain has involved multiple changes and processes dependent on thyroid hormone. The urgent question thus arises: Is chemical pollution poisoning brain development and reversing evolution's most outstanding achievement: the human brain? And if so, as this book convincingly illuminates, what can be done about it both collectively and individually? Toxic Cocktail provides a clear view of how many environmental chemicals interfere with brain development. As a result, this book looks at how we define and test IQ, the evidence for IQ loss, and how chemical pollution and thyroid hormone disruption can be actors in this process, as well as increasing neurodevelopmental disease risk.

Recenzje

The thyroid system has several qualities that make it an excellent choice for coverage. [Toxic Cocktail] beautifully illustrates the Goldilocks principle of endocrinology: the amount of hormone made by the gland must be just right for the body to function properly.

O autorze

Barbara Demeneix is an internationally recognized expert on thyroid function and brain development. She acts as an expert for the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in the field of endocrine disruption, notably for chemicals affecting thyroid hormone function. In 2014 Demeneix received the CNRS Medal of Innovation and was promoted to Officer of the Legion of Honneur. She has authored over 150 scientific publications and patents, including Losing Our Minds: How Environmental Pollution Impairs Human Intelligence and Mental Health (OUP 2013). She trained and worked in the UK, France, Canada and Germany, and currently serves as Professor of Comparative Physiology and Head of Department at the National History Museum in Paris, France.