Medicine's Paul Tesar and Erin Cohn link household chemicals to brain damage

Household chemicals linked to brain damage

Earth: Paul Tesar, the Dr. Donald and Ruth Weber Goodman Professor of Innovative Therapeutics and director of the Institute for Glial Sciences, and Erin Cohn, a graduate student in the Medical Scientist Training Program, discussed their new study that found common disinfectants and flame retardants damage myelin-producing brain cells. Cohn said oligodendrocytes are “surprisingly vulnerable,” while principal investigator Paul Tesar called the chemicals a previously unrecognized neurological risk, especially for children.