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May 29th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda TUESDAY, May 29 (HealthDay News) — People with less than a high school
education who work with solvents may have problems with their thinking
skills later in life, according to a study of people in France.
In the study, researchers from Harvard University noted that people
with more education did not experience the same types of issues with their
thinking, or so-called “cognitive,” skills, even if they had the same
amount of exposure to these chemicals.
“People with more education may have a greater cognitive reserve that
acts like a buffer, allowing the brain to maintain its ability to function
in spite of damage,” study author Lisa Berkman, of Harvard University in
Cambridge, Mass., said in news release from the American Academy of
Neurology. “This may be because education helps build up a dense network
of connections among brain cells.”
In conducting the study, the investigators followed more than 4,100
people who worked at the French national gas and electric company. While
working at the company, the participants were exposed to four types of
solvents: chlorinated solvents, petroleum solvents, benzene and
non-benzene aromatic solvents.
The researchers assessed the workers’ lifetime exposure to these
solvents and tested their thinking skills when they were an average of 59
years old. By this time, 91 percent of the study participants were
retired.
Most of those studied worked at the company for their entire career and
58 percent had less than a high school education. Of those without a high
school diploma, the study revealed 32 percent had problems with their
thinking skills. In contrast, only 16 percent of those with more education
had similar thinking problems, the findings showed.
The study, published in the May 29 issue of Neurology, also
found that high levels of exposure to chlorinated and petroleum solvents
was associated with 14 percent greater risk for thinking problems among
the less-educated workers, compared to their peers with no exposure.
Moreover, the less-educated workers with a high level of exposure to
benzene were 24 percent more likely to have problems with their thinking
skills, and those with significant exposure to non-benzene aromatic
solvents were 36 percent more likely to have such problems.
“These findings suggest that efforts to improve quality and quantity of
education early in life could help protect people’s cognitive abilities
later in life,” Berkman said. “Investment in education could serve as a
broad shield against both known and unknown exposures across the lifetime.
This is especially important given that some evidence shows that federal
levels of permissible exposure for some solvents may be insufficient to
protect workers against the health consequences of exposure.”
While the study uncovered an association between education level,
solvent exposure and thinking skills, it did not prove a cause-and-effect
relationship.
More information
The U.S. Department of Labor has more about the health effects of exposure to solvents.
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