Publisher's Synopsis
According to the author of this study, millions of people are suffering a decline in intelligence due to pollution, the absence of environmental micro-nutrients and a degraded psycho-social environment. This decline can range from severe intellectual disability to a variety of mild, "sub-clinical" dysfunctions experienced by most people in the population. Up to 90% of children in some African cities are tangibly affected by one pollutant - lead. In response to these fears, the US Congress declared the 1990s the "Decade of the Brain". This study offers a wider, more comprehensive picture of the problem, ranging across the medical, social and environmental sciences, including evolutionary theory, disability studies, education, law and ethics.