The human brain is at risk from its own behaviour. Logically, protecting our intelligence should be a policy priority, but it is not. In response, the US Congress declared the 1990s the Decade of the Brain , but this has omitted the perspective of poorer nations. Environmental medicine gives inadequate attention to the brain, concentrating on cancer and respiratory ailments which are simpler to diagnose and cure.
Priorities set by rich countries lead to an incomplete picture.
Initiatives within the US Decade of the Brain largely concern neurotoxic environmental agents, such as lead, radiation, or PCBs. There are figures concerning lead, PCBs, and micronutrient deficiencies. But it is not known if these figures describe the same or different people. This is in stark contrast to the human rights assumption that we should protect the most vulnerable. Financial compensation is inequitable.