A controversial report suggests that hundreds of known neurotoxins may be affecting the brains of children around the world and yet are loosely regulated because too high a standard of proof is required before stricter controls are considered.

Philippe Grandjean of the Harvard School of Public Health and co-author Philip J. Landrigan of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine compiled their list of more than 200 chemicals known to be neurotoxic to adults from government databases. For a handful of these chemicals--lead, methyl¿mercury, poly¿chlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), arsenic and toluene--there is also proof that they can harm fetal or child brain development, which has led to their tighter regulation. For example, as a result of these concerns lead was removed from gasoline and paint.

This article was originally published with the title Your Brain on Toxins.

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