WATER EFFECT IN CHILDREN

Study suggests adverse effects on children's intellectual abilities.

A team of researchers led by Maryse Bouchard, adjunct professor at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Biology, Health, Environment and Society (CINBIOSE) of the Université du Québec à Montréal and a researcher at Sainte-Justine University Hospital, and Donna Mergler, professor emerita in the Department of Biological Sciences and a member of CINBIOSE, recently completed a study showing that children exposed to high concentrations of manganese in drinking water performed worse on tests of intellectual functioning than children with lower exposures. Their results are published in the prestigious scientific journal Environmental Health Perspectives, in an article entitled "Intellectual Impairment in School-Age Children Exposed to Manganese from Drinking Water"


The study, carried out by researchers at the Université du Québec à Montréal, the Université de Montréal and the École Polytechnique de Montréal, examined 362 Quebec children, between the ages of 6 and 13, living in homes supplied by with groundwater (individual or public wells). For each child, the researchers measured the concentration of manganese in tap water from their home, as well as iron, copper, lead, zinc, arsenic, magnesium and calcium. The amount of manganese from both tap water and food was estimated from a questionnaire. Finally, each child was assessed with a battery of tests assessing cognition, motor skills, and behaviour.