The Philadelphia Inquirer had an interesting article Sunday. I knew prior to reading the article lead (Pb) was toxic. Also, I read enough mysteries not to be surprised by arsenic (As) on the list. but some of the others I hadn't heard of. More below the squiggle.
Manganese (Mn) I'd worked with in Freshman Chemistry, I didn't realize it was toxic, but I never ate anything we worked with in the lab. However, I had Introductory Chemistry not Organic. So some of the organic compounds I was unfamiliar with. DDT I knew about, but I only knew about the problems it caused wildlife.
The article isn't entirely surprising. Baby's brains are far less hardy than adults and just plain different. My adult brain doesn't learn foreign languages easily, but if you take a baby anywhere in the world, they can pick up the language and newborns come out crying with an accent, depending on the prosody of the language they heard their parents speak in utero. While a baby's brain is learning how to keep a heart beating, breathe, move limbs and after being born: how to sit up, crawl, and walk (neuromuscular) and all the cognitive stuff humans do like language and counting 5 fingers or 5 toes, it makes sense the tiny brain would be vulnerable.
What I want to know is why haven't "pro-life" groups seized on reports like this? Where are the outraged 'right to life' groups complaining that these industrial toxins kill babies? Why isn't Operation Rescue protesting outside superfund sites and factories saying "This facility kills babies"? Just Wondering.