Because pregnancy, especially early pregnancy, is a highly sensitive period for effects of drugs on the developing fetus, there are warnings to avoid taking any unnecessary medication during those critical nine months. The unfortunate irony is that today, all pregnant women are unwittingly exposed to a complex combination of chemicals, as are the fetuses and babies developing in their wombs, and this exposure is occurring from conception onward. Many of these chemicals interfere with hormone signaling and act as endocrine disruptors. Today we are also witnessing documented decreases in IQ and unexplained increases in neurodevelopmental disease, such as Autism Spectrum Disorder and Attention Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder.
On Wednesday, June 21, 2017 at 10:00am Pacific/1:00pm Eastern, Dr. Barbara Demeneix discussed the effects of chemicals that disrupt thyroid hormone, a crucial hormone needed for optimal brain development both before and after birth. She synthesized the results from epidemiological and experimental studies linking the increasing numbers of chemicals affecting thyroid signaling with IQ loss and/or neurodevelopmental disease. This work is largely based on recent research that forms the foundation for her latest book from Oxford University Press: Toxic Cocktail: How Chemical Pollution Is Poisoning Our Brains.
Featured Speaker
Barbara Demeneix, PhD, is Professor of Physiology at the National Natural History Museum in France. Trained in the United Kingdom, France, Canada, and Germany, she is an internationally recognized expert on thyroid function and the author of more than 160 scientific publications.
Dr. Demeneix has received numerous awards for her work, notably the Nature Mentoring Award in 2011 and the CNRS Medal for Innovation in 2014. She is also active with many international committees addressing thyroid hormone and endocrine disruption (OECD, European Thyroid Association, etc.).
This webinar is one in a monthly series sponsored by the Collaborative on Health and the Environment’s EDC Strategies Partnership. The CHE EDC Strategies Partnership is chaired by Carol Kwiatkowski and Katie Pelch (TEDX), Sharyle Patton (Commonweal Biomonitoring Resource Center), Jerry Heindel (Commonweal Program on Endocrine Disruption Strategies), and Genon Jensen (HEAL) and coordinated by Maria Williams (Collaborative on Health and the Environment, a Commonweal program). To see a full list of past calls and webinars related to EDCs and listen to or view recordings, please visit our partnership page.
This webinar was moderated by Genon Jensen, Executive Director of Health and Environment Alliance. The webinar lasted for 30 minutes and was recorded for our archive.