SUBJECT: ADVANCED STUDIES IN

DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES
DR MUHAMMAD NADEEM IQBAL
ISP
MULTAN
MPHIL: SPECIAL EDUCATION
LECTURE NO. 1
Environmental Influences on Heredity

A pregnant woman, 4 weeks after

conception, ingests a chemical called
glutarimide (Nephthalimido) and
subsequently delivers a term infant with
severely malformed and shortened arms and
legs (phocomelia).
 A woman at 30 weeks’ gestation ingests
the same chemical and delivers a term
infant with no visible congenital
anomalies. This chemical is also known as
thalidomide.
 It was widely marketed over the counter
in Europe, Canada, and Japan in the 1950s
and early 1960s, recommended for the
control of morning sickness in pregnant
women.
 Via animal and human studies, over 1,000
chemicals have been identified as potential
neuro-toxicants (causes of neurologic injury;
(Grandjean & Landrigan, 2006).

 The range of outcomes from exposure to these

chemicals includes:
 1) fetal death;
 2) death at an older age related to early or recent
exposure;
 3) malformations related to exposure;
 4) growth retardation related to or later
exposure;

 5) Developmental disabilities including
intellectual disability, learning
disabilities, and cerebral palsy;
 6) So-called “subclinical outcomes,”
such as statistically significant
decrements in IQ, executive
functioning, adaptive skills.
 Many chemicals have been shown to have
similar detrimental effects in animals and
humans.
 For example, learning deficits have been
associated with exposure to metals
including cadmium, lead, mercury,
manganese;
 Solvents including toluene, xylene, and
ethanol;
 And other chemicals including
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs),
nicotine, and dioxins (Koger, Schettler, &
Weiss, 2005).
 These observations suggest that different
toxicants acting on specific developmental
processes that occur at a given time in
development—can have the same or
similar outcomes.
 Individual chemicals have been associated
with a range of outcomes.
 For example, exposure to PCBs in
children has been associated with learning
disabilities, attention- deficit/hyperactivity
disorder (ADHD), and memory
impairments.
 Exposure to lead has been associated with
learning disabilities, decreased IQ,
ADHD, violent behaviors, and aggression.
 This suggests that exposure to the same
toxicant during different developmental
time periods can lead to different adverse
effects.
 Beyond chemicals, toxicants such as
radiation can also adversely affect
neurodevelopment.
SCOPE OF THE ISSUE

 In 2000, U.S. National Academy of

Sciences (NAS), estimated that 3% of all
neurobehavioral disorders in children are
directly caused by exposure to
environmental contaminants and … the
myriad of manufactured and natural
agents encountered by humans”.
 And that another 25% are caused by
interactions among environmental factors,
including “infection, nutritional
deficiencies and excesses, life-style
factors (e.g., alcohol), hyperthermia,
ultraviolet radiation, X-rays,
 In2006, the World Health
Organization estimated that
environmental causes, including
metals, pesticides, stress, and so
forth, account for about 13% of all
neuropsychiatric diseases
ALLAHA HAFIZ