Monthly Archives: June 2017

Environmental Defense Fund Study Finds Lead in Baby Food–Dr. Maida Galvez Weighs In

Dr. Maida Galvez, MD, MPH, associate professor of environmental medicine and public health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, director of the Region 2 Environmental Health Specialty Unit (NJ, NY, PR, and USVI) and Tom Neltner, JD, Chemicals Policy Director for the Environmental Defense Fund discuss a study which discovered that roughly 20 percent of baby food samples were found to contain lead. The study also found that more than 1 million children consume more lead than FDA’s limit. Eliminating lead in food would save society more than $27 billion annually in total lifetime earnings from saved IQ points. To read the full EDF report click here and to watch the video click here.

P30 Center Member’s New Study on Autism and Exposure to Specific Toxins Published in Nature Communications

Using evidence found in baby teeth, P30 Center Researchers from The Senator Frank R. Lautenberg Environmental Health Sciences Laboratory and The Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment at Mount Sinai found that differences in the uptake of multiple toxic and essential elements over the second and third trimesters and early postnatal periods are associated with the risk of developing autism spectrum disorders (ASD), according to a study published June 1 in the journal Nature Communications. The critical developmental windows for the observed discrepancies varied for each element, suggesting that systemic dysregulation of environmental pollutants and dietary elements may serve an important role in ASD. In addition to identifying specific environmental factors that influence risk, the study also pinpointed developmental time periods when elemental dysregulation poses the biggest risk for autism later in life