Grant: CIHR New Investigator

Neurodevelopmental disabilities affect 3-8% of babies born each year in North America, with known etiology for less than 25% of those disabilities. The potential for environmental contaminants to produce neurological, cognitive, or other behaviour deficits as a result of developmental exposure has received increasing attention. Most environmental chemicals exert their toxic effects in the foetus via circulating blood through the placenta. The foetus is more susceptible to toxic exposure than the adult due to its fragile and rapid developmental state and lack of adequate defence mechanisms. Based on existing knowledge of the toxicity of persistent environmental pollutants from experimental research, we hypothesize that environmental exposure to Mn, Cd, Pb, PCB, PBDE and Hg simultaneously during prenatal life associates with increased risk of poorer psychomotor performances in children from the general population. In order to ensure the safety of current levels of environmental exposures during prenatal life in pregnant women from the general population, we propose to conduct a birth prospective cohort using biomarkers of effect for a mixture of known persistent substances.