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This is the message that was supposed to follow the blurb I put in front of the issue of rachel that was about reducing municipalities' use of hazardous chemicals. oops. As I mentioned before, the story comes from the BBC and is based on research in the U.K., but I thought it would still be of interest to people. d ------------------------------------------------- > BBC News > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > Saturday, May 23, 1998 > > Pollution 'damaging' intelligence > > Pollution could affect intelligence of > one in 10 British children > > Pollution and poor land quality is said to be reducing the > intelligence of millions of people throughout the world. > Research by a scientist at London University, Dr Christopher > Williams, has suggested pollutants such as lead affects the > intelligence of one in 10 children in Britain, but up to 90% in > some African countries. > Dr Williams told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that in > considering the environment, a lot of attention was paid to cancer > and respiratory disease "because you can put them under a > microscope and see what's happening. > "You can't put an IQ loss under a mircroscope and see what's > happening. > "As policy-makers we should be saying: give the difficult > science a bit more of a chance because there is not so much of it > around and perhaps we ought to put a bit more funding in." > Dr Williams' findings are derived from compiling hundreds of > studies carried out in recent decades, which had not been put > together. > For example, in the US, 17% of children were said to have lead > levels affecting their intelligence. A further study showed 5% of > US babies had exposure to toxic PCBs that affected intelligence. > But it was not known if the same children were involved. > "We know very little about the combined effects of these > things," said Dr Williams. > Dr David Wray, head of the Medical Research Council's > Neuro-Toxology Unit, told the Today programme that Dr Williams had > done a useful service by drawing attention to the underestimated > risk of damage to the brain. "Perhaps his book rather overstates > the case a bit, but it's a very good argument in favour of > considering the nervous system, which is very important because it > limits how people can perform in their lives." > He doubted that one in 10 children were affected by lead right > across the country, in urban and rural areas. But such a > percentage might be found among children in poor urban areas across > Europe. > > Margarida Carvalho e Silva msilva@esb.ucp.pt msilva@igc.org > Escola Superior de Biotecnologia Universidade Catolica Portuguesa > Rua Dr. Antonio Bernardino de Almeida Tel: 351/2/558 0048 > P-4200 PORTO PORTUGAL Fax: 351/2/590 351 > ___________________________________________________________________ > > |=============== Lista Portuguesa de Ambiente =============== > | Para deixar de participar na ambio envie uma mensagem para > | majordomo@lists.esb.ucp.pt com o seguinte texto: > | unsubscribe ambio > |=====================================================1998===
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