Impacts of Environmental Exposures on Neurodevelopment

The identification of factors contributing to environmental health issues is challenging because of the complex nature of environment-related health problems. Various environmental factors, including air quality, water quality, food safety, and living environments, play a crucial role in health and diseases. Neurodevelopment is one of the most important health topics. In spite of global endeavors to reduce environmental levels of potentially hazardous substances and consequently mitigate their adverse impacts on the human body, many chemical substances are widespread in the environment and frequently exceed recommended levels. In this chapter, we will briefly discuss the potential environmental factors that have adverse effects on neurodevelopment. Our focus will be on long-term consequences that have received less attention in previous studies. We will delve briefly into the detrimental effects of heavy metals, pesticides, endocrine-disrupting chemicals, and air pollution on neurodevelopment and particularly discuss Fetal Alcohol Spectrum disorders, autism spectrum disorder, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.