Losing Our Minds

How Environmental Pollution Impairs Human Intelligence and Mental Health

Professor Barbara Demeneix

Oxford Series in Behavioral Neuroendocrinology

Outlines the environmental causes underlying the increased incidence of various neurodevelopmental disorders and IQ loss.
Links chimical pollution to the increasing prevalence of mild iodine deficiency, which affects thyroid hormone signaling and neuro-developmental disorders.
Offers straightforward recommendations on how to reduce chemical loads in individuals and unborn children.

Losing Our Minds

How Environmental Pollution Impairs Human Intelligence and Mental Health

Professor Barbara Demeneix

Oxford Series in Behavioral Neuroendocrinology

Description

The global prevalence of neurodevelopmental disorders is accelerating. Numbers of children affected by an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the United States have reached 1 in 88 -- 1 in 56 among boys -- and even more children have developed attention deficit/hyperactivity disorders (ADHD). The burden of these disorders to individuals and society overall is enormous; ASD alone costs the United States a staggering $130 billion, with ADHD costs reaching similar heights.

Genetic causes of these neurodevelopmental disorders cannot account for such radically increased rates of incidence. The causes must also implicate environmental chemicals, many of which have been shown to disrupt normal thyroid function. In this book, Barbara Demeneix makes the case that thyroid hormone signaling bridges the environment and gene programs needed for brain development--and that environmental chemicals that disrupt normal thyroid function pose significant risks to the inherited intelligence and mental health of future generations.

The first chapter provides an historical overview of documented cases in which environmental pollution has caused IQ loss across populations. The following chapters explain the physiology of thyroid hormone action, the importance of iodine and selenium for thyroid hormone signaling and brain development, and why thyroid hormone is such a sensitive target for environmental pollution. The final chapters discuss the role of gene-environment interactions in neurodevelopmental disorders and address what can and must be done by individuals, associations, and decision-makers to staunch these epidemics.

Losing Our Minds

How Environmental Pollution Impairs Human Intelligence and Mental Health

Professor Barbara Demeneix

Oxford Series in Behavioral Neuroendocrinology

Contents

1. Chemical Pollution and IQ Loss in Children: Learning from the Past
2. Thyroid Hormone, Iodine, Selenium, and Mercury
3. Thyroid Hormone and Brain Development: Bridging Environment to Gene Expression
4. Thyroid Hormone Signalling as a Target of Multiple Pollutants
5. Examples of Chemical Pollution Targeting Thyroid Hormone Action
6. Mixtures and Low Doses: The Complexity of Risk Assessment
7. Autism Spectrum Disorder, Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Congenital Hypothyroidism: The Case for Gene x Environment Interactions
8. What Can Be Done by Individuals, Associations and Governments: Time to End the Pied Piper Scenario

Losing Our Minds

How Environmental Pollution Impairs Human Intelligence and Mental Health

Professor Barbara Demeneix

Oxford Series in Behavioral Neuroendocrinology

Author Information

Barbara Demeneix is an internationally recognized expert on thyroid function and endocrine disruption. She is the author of more than 140 scientific publications, patents, and book chapters. Trained in the United Kingdom, France, Canada, and Germany, she currently serves as Professor of Comparative Physiology and Head of Department at the Natural History Museum in Paris, France.

Contributors:

(n/a)

Losing Our Minds

How Environmental Pollution Impairs Human Intelligence and Mental Health

Professor Barbara Demeneix

Oxford Series in Behavioral Neuroendocrinology

Reviews and Awards

"Losing Our Minds contains an exceptional amount of detail regarding the mechanisms and importance of the thyroid gland and points towards many potential damaging influences on thyroid function. Anybody involved in thyroid research is likely to find much of value in the book. The possibility of an environmental pollutant causing low level cognitive impairment that may be related to reductions in IQ, and increased autism and ADHD prevalence, remains a theoretical possibility. Losing Our Minds, however, does not provide a convincing case that this theoretical possibility is a current reality." --Stuart Derbyshire, PsycCRITIQUES

"Developmental neurotoxicology is a critical field, offering emerging knowledge of the effects of endocrine disruption on brain development. Here, Demeneix provides a broad approach to human development and problems that may occur during different stages of gestation. The author invokes gene x environment interactions in the growing numbers of autism spectrum and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorders. Citing the buildup of many contaminants in the environment, the author presents a "Pied Piper" view of effects of endocrine disruption on fetuses and young children. [I]t is an important book, clearly written and well documented. The author identifies a critical need for action by governments and nongovernmental organizations. Recommended." --M. Gochfeld, CHOICE