Chemicals That Harm Children’s Brain Development Revealed

The common chemicals that are used as flame retardants and plasticizers pose a larger risk to children’s brain development, according to a commentary published in Environmental Health Perspectives. The commentary was published based on a review of dozens of human, animal, and cell-based studies and concluded that exposure to even low levels of the chemicals called organophosphate esters may harm IQ, attention, and memory in children in ways not yet looked at by regulators.

“The use of organophosphate esters in everything from TVs to car seats has proliferated under the false assumption that they’re safe,” said Heather Patisaul, lead author and neuroendocrinologist at North Carolina State University.

Organophosphates in flame retardants and plasticizers are used as a replacement for some phased-out or banned chemicals used in electronics, car seats, and other baby products, furniture, and building materials.

Unfortunately, these chemicals also appear to be as harmful as the chemicals they’re intended to replace but they act in a different mechanism.

Organophosphate chemicals continuously migrate out of products into air and dust in the form of esters. Those contaminated dust gets on our hands and is then inadvertently ingested in when we eat.

Children are more exposed to hand-to-mouth behavior so they have higher concentrations of these chemicals in their bodies during the most vulnerable period of brain development.

The authors call for a stop to unnecessary uses of all organophosphate esters. This includes their use as flame retardants to meet ineffective flammability standards in consumer products, vehicles, and building materials.

For uses where organophosphate esters are deemed essential, the authors recommend governments and industries conduct alternatives assessments and make investments in innovative solutions without harmful chemicals.

Source-Medindia