IQ Rates in Children Plummeting – Environmental Toxins to Blame?
Over the past several decades, American children’s physical and mental well-being has steadily deteriorated. Over half (54%) of all U.S. children (as of 2007) had a chronic health condition—with developmental and behavioral problems, obesity, allergies, asthma and mental health conditions leading the pack—and the prevalence of many of these conditions doubled from 1988 to the mid-2000s. Federal reporting on pediatric health indicators in 2017 showed that one in five children (kindergarteners through adolescents) were obese, one in ten had activity limitations resulting from chronic health problems, and one in seventeen (more males than females) had, according to a parent, “serious difficulties with emotions, concentration, behavior or getting along with other people.” In addition, 12% of adolescents suffered a major depressive episode in the previous year, with the prevalence of teenage depression rising continuously since 2004 and suicide representing the second leading cause of death for both teens and young adults. Vaccines are one of the most widespread and ongoing sources of prenatal and childhood exposure to metals that negatively affect the brain. Prenatal exposure—as occurs with the mercury-containing flu shots and aluminum-containing pertussis vaccines now routinely administered to pregnant women—is particularly dangerous as early exposure can impair subsequent growth and development of neurons. The U.S. requires the largest number of vaccines for school entry of any developed nation, although compulsory vaccination has been trending upward in Europe as well.
