Historic settlement for over 1,300 survivors of clergy and adult abuse within the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, marking a pivotal moment for justice.
July 24, 2024
Children from low-income families and families of color are exposed to more neurotoxic chemicals and experience greater harm that affects brain development and contributes to developmental delays, according to a review in the peer-reviewed journal, Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP).
What Are Neurotoxic Chemicals?
Neurotoxic chemicals include lead, particulate matter, organophosphate pesticides, PBDE flame retardants, PCBs, and phthalates in air, water, soil, food, food packaging, and plastics.
Who Performed the Research?
The 2023 study, “Disparities in Toxic Chemical Exposures and Associated Neurodevelopmental Outcomes: A Scoping Review and Systematic Evidence Map of the Epidemiological Literature,” is based on research by an alliance of scientists, medical professionals, and environmental advocates who are part of Project TENDR and focuses on exposure to a range of neurotoxic chemicals.
The EHP review notes that neurotoxic chemicals can harm brain development and cause developmental delays in children — problems that can be amplified by poverty and “policies and processes such as racial residential segregation, disproportionate citing of polluting sources in communities of color, and government-backed policies to dispossess Native Americans of their lands and cultures.”
The studies examined exposure to combustion-related air pollution, like car exhaust or industrial emissions, which increases the risk of respiratory ailments, heart disease, and strokes, as well as exposure to lead, which can cause developmental delays, neurological problems, and behavioral challenges in children.
Findings confirmed by the analysis include:
Toxic exposure has lifelong consequences
The combined research demonstrates that environmental injustice impacts the health of all age groups and has lifelong implications.
Devon Payne-Sturges, co-lead author and associate professor of environmental health sciences at the University of Maryland’s School of Public Health, notes that children are exposed to many neurotoxicants at a time, which he says is the crux of the problem. “Policies that allow these exposures to continue are really just stealing children’s future potential,” he said. “And we wanted to highlight this issue about cumulative exposures and cumulative effects.”
The researchers are hopeful their work will inspire targeted interventions, shape new policies, and encourage greater investment to eliminate health disparities. Their finding also bolsters the need for a greater emphasis on the role of race when researchers are studying harmful environmental exposures.
How We Help Victims of Toxic Exposure
With a national presence and a wealth of experience prosecuting toxic exposure cases, Waters Kraus & Paul has battled corporate giants on behalf of individuals like you for 20 years, aggressively fighting to hold them responsible for failing to keep workers safe. If you have suffered catastrophic injury or cancer caused by exposure to harmful chemicals, we can help.
Our Results
Historic settlement for over 1,300 survivors of clergy and adult abuse within the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, marking a pivotal moment for justice.
A Philadelphia jury awarded a record verdict against ExxonMobil for failing to warn about cancer risks due to benzene in its petroleum products.
Confidential settlement for the wife of a Rhode Island man who died of mesothelioma cancer after exposure to window glazing compound contaminated with asbestos.