PCB's Alter Neonatal Brain
According to Science News, three new studies — including one appearing online today in the Public Library of Science - Biology (PLoS - Biology) — UC Davis researchers provide compelling evidence of how low levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) alter the way brain cells develop. The findings could explain at last — some 30 years after the toxic chemicals were banned in the United States — the associations between exposure of the developing nervous system to PCBs and behavioral deficits in children. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are a class of organic compounds attached to biphenyl which is a molecule composed of two benzene rings each containing six carbon atoms. PCB production was banned in the 1970s.
PCBs have been implicated in epidemiological studies as an environmental cause of diverse neurodevelopmental disorders, including ADHD, learning disabilities, sensory deficits, developmental delays and mental retardation