http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/EHP358/#tab1

Environ Health Perspect; DOI:10.1289/EHP358
Project TENDR: Targeting Environmental Neuro-Developmental Risks.

[center]The TENDR Consensus Statement[/center]
SUMMARY: Children in America today are at an unacceptably high risk of developing neurodevelopmental disorders that affect the brain and nervous system including autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, intellectual disabilities, and other learning and behavioral disabilities. These are complex disorders with multiple causes—genetic, social, and environmental. The contribution of toxic chemicals to these disorders can be prevented.

APPROACH: Leading scientific and medical experts, along with children’s health advocates, came together in 2015 under the auspices of Project TENDR: Targeting Environmental Neuro-Developmental Risks to issue a call to action to reduce widespread exposures to chemicals that interfere with fetal and children’s brain development. Based on the available scientific evidence, the TENDR authors have identified prime examples of toxic chemicals and pollutants that increase children’s risks for neurodevelopmental disorders. These include chemicals that are used extensively in consumer products and that have become widespread in the environment. Some are chemicals to which children and pregnant women are regularly exposed, and they are detected in the bodies of virtually all Americans in national surveys conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The vast majority of chemicals in industrial and consumer products undergo almost no testing for developmental neurotoxicity or other health effects.

CONCLUSION: Based on these findings, we assert that the current system in the United States for evaluating scientific evidence and making health-based decisions about environmental chemicals is fundamentally broken. To help reduce the unacceptably high prevalence of neurodevelopmental disorders in our children, we must eliminate or significantly reduce exposures to chemicals that contribute to these conditions. We must adopt a new framework for assessing chemicals that have the potential to disrupt brain development and prevent the use of those that may pose a risk. This consensus statement lays the foundation for developing recommendations to monitor, assess, and reduce exposures to neurotoxic chemicals. These measures are urgently needed if we are to protect healthy brain development so that current and future generations can reach their fullest potential.

A CALL TO ACTION

The TENDR Consensus Statement is a call to action to reduce exposures to toxic chemicals that can contribute to the prevalence of neurodevelopmental disabilities in America’s children. The TENDR authors agree that widespread exposures to toxic chemicals in our air, water, food, soil, and consumer products can increase the risks for cognitive, behavioral, or social impairment, as well as specific neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (Di Renzo et al. 2015; Gore et al. 2015; Lanphear 2015; Council on Environmental Health 2011). This preventable threat results from a failure of our industrial and consumer markets and regulatory systems to protect the developing brain from toxic chemicals. To lower children’s risks for developing neurodevelopmental disorders, policies and actions are urgently needed to eliminate or significantly reduce exposures to these chemicals. Further, if we are to protect children, we must overhaul how government agencies and business assess risks to human health from chemical exposures, how chemicals in commerce are regulated, and how scientific evidence informs decision making by government and the private sector.

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https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/documents/tri_in_action_final_report_july_2013.pdf

EPA: THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[CENTER]The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) in Action: Media, Government, Business, Community and Academic Uses of TRI Data[/CENTER]p.8

Zimmerman, J.P., Bakian A., et al. "Maternal Residential Proximity to Toxic Release Inventory Sites In Children with ASD and Other Developmental Disabilities." International Meeting for Autism Research. INSAR: International Society for Autism Research. Manchester Grand Hyatt, San Diego, CA. 12 May 2011. Lecture

Utah Autism Whistleblower Lawsuit Will Go to Trial After Federal Judge Denies a Majority of Defendants’ Motions to Dismiss
Mark Blaxill
July 5, 2016

...a Federal District Court Judge for the District of Utah issued a ruling Friday that effectively guarantees a Utah autism whistleblower her day in court. Judge Jill N. Parrish denied a majority of motions by Dr. William McMahon of the University of Utah to dismiss allegations by Dr. Judith Pinborough Zimmerman that McMahon and his colleagues acted improperly in retaliating against her for raising concerns over their research misconduct, violated university policies by terminating her contract without proper review, and impugned her reputation in the process.

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Dr. Zimmerman filed her lawsuit against Dr. McMahon nearly two years ago, in a complaint that describes a heated dispute between the two scientists over the proper handling of confidential health and education records as well as the accuracy of the data records used in measuring Utah’s autism prevalence as part of the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) autism surveillance project, the Autism and Development Disabilities (ADDM) Network. Since 2002, Zimmerman had been the Director of Utah’s ADDM Network site, the Utah Registry of Autism and Developmental Disabilities (URADD). She joined the University of Utah in 2005, bringing the URADD grant with her. She was removed from her URADD and university positions in 2013.

Zimmerman’s lawsuit alleges that McMahon and colleagues violated federal records privacy restrictions in efforts to carry out lucrative additional research projects; these were privacy restrictions that she had carefully negotiated with the Utah Departments of Health and Education in order to bring URADD into compliance with federal law and protect autism families from unwanted use of their personal and family information. When Zimmerman expressed her concerns over privacy and data quality issues to University authorities, McMahon summarily fired her, locked her out of her office and placed himself in charge of URADD. Since Zimmerman’s dismissal, McMahon has become the PI of the URADD and watches over Utah’s contributions to the CDC’s ADDM reports.

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Zimmerman’s conflict with McMahon may have deeper roots than the privacy and data integrity claims cited in Zimmerman’s lawsuit. McMahon has been an active contributor to genetic studies of autism causation and participated as a co-author in dozens of such publications. Zimmerman, by contrast, led a study investigating “Maternal Residential Proximity to Toxic Release Inventory Sites” in children with autism. After speaking to a reporter at the Salt Lake Tribune about the study, she was reprimanded by McMahon. CDC has long been reluctant to investigate environmental causes of autism and McMahon’s interest in genetic research may well have made it easier for him to replace Zimmerman as the CDC’s Utah PI.

With a date as of yet undetermined, Zimmerman will have a chance to defend her career and reputation in front of a jury. Judge Parrish’s decision directly denied McMahon and the University’s request to dismiss Zimmerman’s allegations in 7 out of 12 causes of action in her complaint. McMahon and the University succeeded in dismissing 3 of the 12 causes; the remaining two were certified to the Utah Supreme Court, with Parrish asking for guidance in the absence of “controlling Utah law.’

https://www.thestreet.com/story/13627095/1/unprecedented-alliance-of-scientists-health-professionals-advocates-agree-toxic-chemicals-hurting-brain-development.html

"Unprecedented Alliance of Scientists, Health Professionals, and Advocates Agree Toxic Chemicals Hurting Brain Development"

http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/EHP358/#tab1

BRIEF COMMUNICATION
VOLUME 124|ISSUE 7|JULY 2016

Project TENDR: Targeting Environmental Neuro-Developmental Risks. The TENDR Consensus Statement