Humans are potentially exposed to more than 80,000 toxic chemicals in the environment, yet their impacts on brain health and disease are not well understood. The sheer number of these chemicals has overwhelmed the ability to determine their individual toxicity, much less potential interactive effects. Early life exposures to chemicals can have permanent consequences for neurodevelopment and for neurodegeneration in later life. Toxic effects resulting from chemical exposure can interact with other risk factors such as prenatal stress, and persistence of some chemicals in the brain over time may result in cumulative toxicity. Because neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders — such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and Parkinson's disease — cannot be fully explained by genetic risk factors alone, understanding the role of individual environmental chemical exposures is critical. On June 25, 2020, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's Forum on Neuroscience and Nervous System Disorders hosted a workshop to lay the foundation for future advances in environmental neuroscience. The workshop was designed to explore new opportunities to bridge the gap between what is known about the genetic contribution to brain disorders and what is known, and not known, about the contribution of environmental influences, as well as to discuss what is known about how genetic and environmental factors interact. This publication summarizes the presentation and discussion of the workshop.

Contents

• The National Academies of SCIENCES • ENGINEERING • MEDICINE
• PLANNING COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL NEUROSCIENCE
• FORUM ON NEUROSCIENCE AND NERVOUS SYSTEM DISORDERS
• BOARD ON ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES AND TOXICOLOGY
• Reviewers
• 1. Introduction and Background
  • WORKSHOP OBJECTIVES
  • ORGANIZATION OF THE PROCEEDINGS
• 2. Neurotoxicants and Their Risks to Human Health
  • LEAD
  • AGRICULTURAL CHEMICALS: HERBICIDES, PESTICIDES, INSECTICIDES, AND FUNGICIDES
  • INDUSTRIAL CHEMICALS AND FLAME-RETARDANT CHEMICALS
  • AIR POLLUTION
  • ASSESSING THE RISK OF EXPOSURES
• 3. The Exposome and Exploring the Multiple Factors That Contribute to Neurotoxicity
  • THE EXPOSOME
  • GENETIC FACTORS
  • LRRK2
  • EPIGENETICS
  • CONCURRENT RISK FACTORS: STRESS AND POVERTY
• 4. Chemical Toxicants as Drivers of Abnormal Neurodevelopment and Neurodegeneration
  • NEURODEVELOPMENT, AUTISM, AND ATTENTION-DEFICIT HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER
  • NEURODEGENERATIVE DISORDERS: ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE, PARKINSON'S DISEASE, AND AMYOTROPHIC LATERAL SCLEROSIS
• 5. Research Gaps and Opportunities
  • ADVERSE OUTCOME PATHWAYS
  • STANDARDIZED DATA COLLECTION
  • NEW TOOLS ARE ADVANCING ENVIRONMENTAL NEUROSCIENCE
  • POPULATION AND REAL-WORLD STUDIES
• 6. Potential Opportunities for Action and Multidisciplinary Collaborations
  • POLICY IMPLICATIONS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL NEUROSCIENCE
  • OPPORTUNITIES FOR MULTIDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION
  • MOTIVATING ACTION
• Appendixes
  • A. References
  • B. Workshop Agenda

Suggested citation:

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Environmental neuroscience: Advancing the understanding of how chemical exposures impact brain health and disease: Proceedings of a workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/25937.

Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.17226/25937

Additional copies of this publication are available from the National Academies Press, 500 Fifth Street, NW, Keck 360, Washington, DC 20001; (800) 624-6242 or (202) 334-3313; http://www.nap.edu.

Printed in the United States of America