ABSTRACT
Environmental pollution and climate change have already started impacting the ecosystems and natural resources on which mankind and animal kingdom are highly dependent for its survival. The consequences of pollution and global warming have further aggravated the sufferings of human race by inducing severe stresses and diseases, which is impacting human brain and health in general. A number of studies prove that direct and indirect impacts of pollution and climate change have potential to expose the human brain to dangerous levels of toxicity and stress, which in turn may impact the decision-making abilities of a person, consequently leading to poor health, which may sometimes prove to be fatal. Toxic exposure to chemicals like lead, arsenic, cadmium, manganese, methyl mercury, ozone and metals like zinc, copper, iron, and cobalt is impacting human brain cell functions right from prenatal to adult stages. The climatic factors like unpredictable precipitation and rising temperatures further add to the misery of humans by affecting the food security, food quality, livelihoods, economy, increased natural disasters, and dwindling natural resources, further leading to high stress, causing anxiety and damage to the brain. This chapter presents a review of such studies, which shows reasons and consequences of emerging neurological cases and stress on brain due to increased environmental pollution and global warming.
