by: Devon C Payne-Sturges, Deborah A Cory-Slechta, Robin C Puett, Stephen B Thomas, Ross Hammond, Peter S Hovmand
The combined effects of multiple environmental toxicants and social stressor exposures are widely recognized as important public health problems contributing to health inequities.
However cumulative environmental health risks and impacts have received little attention from U.S. policy makers at state and federal levels to develop comprehensive strategies to reduce these exposures, mitigate cumulative risks, and prevent harm.
An area for which the inherent limitations of current approaches to cumulative environmental health risks are well illustrated is children's neurodevelopment, which exhibits dynamic complexity of multiple interdependent and causally linked factors and intergenerational effects.
We delineate how a complex systems approach, specifically system dynamics, can address shortcomings in environmental health risk assessment regarding exposures to multiple chemical and nonchemical stressors and reshape associated public policies.
Payne-Sturges, Devon C et al. “Defining and Intervening on Cumulative Environmental Neurodevelopmental Risks: Introducing a Complex Systems Approach.” Environmental health perspectives vol. 129,3 (2021): 35001. doi:10.1289/EHP7333