A Scientific Consensus Statement on Environmental Agents Associated with Neurodevelopmental Disorders was issued on 20 February 2008. The statement, prepared by the Collaborative on Health and the Environment’s Learning and Developmental Disabilities Initiative, outlines the current scientific understanding of the links between environmental factors, including pesticides, and learning and developmental disabilities.

On pesticides, the statement notes that there is now evidence that childhood exposure to pesticides, such as organophosphates, enhances the risk for developmental disorders including deficits in memory, poorer motor performance and an array of other conditions. A recent study documented the developmental effects of the pesticide chlorpyrifos on inner-city children. There is also evidence of specific genetic susceptibility to pesticide exposure and related health effects. The statement concludes that: “Given the established knowledge, protecting children from neurotoxic environmental exposures from the earliest stages of foetal development through adolescence is clearly an essential public health measure if we are to help reduce the growing numbers of those with learning and developmental disorders and create an environment in which children can reach and maintain their full potential.”

The “Scientific Consensus Statement on Environmental Agents Associated with Neurodevelopmental Disorders” was reviewed by a prestigious committee of scientists and health professionals based in North America, and signed by over 50 of top researchers and health professionals in the environmental health field, including Dr. Phil Landrigan at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine’s Center for Children’s Health and the Environment, Dr. Martha Herbert at Harvard Medical School, and Dr. Lynn Goldman at Johns Hopkins Unversity’s Bloomberg School of Public Health.

For more information:
 Read the consensus statement