科學(xué)家警告說，有毒化學(xué)物質(zhì)奪走了美國兒童超過1.6億個智商點(diǎn)

科學(xué)家警告說，有毒化學(xué)物質(zhì)奪走了美國兒童超過1.6億個智商點(diǎn)

The chemicals we've long feared the most – heavy metals like lead and mercury – are less of a threat to kids' developing brains than they were two decades ago. But two new menaces may be taking their place: pesticides and flame retardants.

我們長期以來最擔(dān)心的化學(xué)物質(zhì)——鉛和汞等重金屬——對兒童大腦發(fā)育的威脅比20年前要小。但是兩種新的威脅可能會取而代之:農(nóng)藥和阻燃劑。

According to new research from New York University, flame retardants resulted in a loss of 162 million IQ points among children in the US between 2001 and 2016.

根據(jù)紐約大學(xué)的最新研究，2001年至2016年間，阻燃劑導(dǎo)致美國兒童智商下降1.62億分。

The study, published Tuesday in the journal Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology, looked at the four chemicals known to impact the brain of a developing child most: lead, mercury, pesticides, and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (otherwise known as flame retardants).

這項(xiàng)研究發(fā)表在周二的《分子與細(xì)胞內(nèi)分泌學(xué)》(Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology)雜志上，研究了已知對發(fā)育中的兒童大腦影響最大的四種化學(xué)物質(zhì):鉛、汞、殺蟲劑和多溴聯(lián)苯醚(也稱阻燃劑)。

Leo Trasande, a paediatrician and public-health researcher at NYU who co-authored the study, described these pollutants as "hit-and-run" chemicals: Once a child is exposed to them, there's no reversing the damage.

這項(xiàng)研究的作者之一、紐約大學(xué)的兒科醫(yī)生和公共衛(wèi)生研究員里奧·特拉薩德(Leo Trasande)把這些污染物描述為“肇事逃逸”的化學(xué)物質(zhì):一旦兒童接觸到它們，就無法逆轉(zhuǎn)其危害。

Kids' brain development is exquisitely vulnerable, Trasande told Business Insider. "If you disrupt, even with subtle effects, the way a child's brain is wired, you can have permanent and lifelong consequences."

“兒童的大腦發(fā)育極其脆弱，”特拉森德告訴《商業(yè)內(nèi)幕》。“如果你擾亂了孩子大腦的連接方式，即使是輕微的影響，也會造成永久性的終身后果。”

The study found that lead cost US kids 78 million IQ points during the 15-year period studied, while pesticides caused a loss of nearly 27 million IQ points during those years. Mercury, meanwhile, caused a loss of 2.5 million IQ points.

研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，在15年的研究期間，鉛讓美國兒童損失了7800萬智商分，而農(nóng)藥導(dǎo)致這些兒童損失了近2700萬智商分。與此同時，汞造成了250萬智商點(diǎn)的損失。