Vol. 2, No. 4 , 1996, Page 2 |
"An entire complex of factors-ranging from the mother's diet and drug use to the composition of
the paint in the home-can impede and damage a child's intellectual development. Given the
enormous number of nutritional, environmental, and lifestyle threats currently facing the
developing child, it is little wonder that the number of children with learning and behavioral
disorders is growing."
Joseph D. Beasley, M.D., in
The Betrayal of Health, 1991
"We are in an unprecedented phase of understanding target receptors of neurotransmitters. It
instills confidence that one can come up with selective intervention for certain types of violent
behavior."
Klaus Miczek,
Tufts University psychopharmacology laboratory director,
cited in "The Biology of Violence,"
BioScience, May 1994
"Although increased funding of mental health centers, stricter gun control, increased supervision of
the mentally unbalanced, or higher standards for probation officers may be desirable, they are
Band-Aid remedies. In the long run, the solution will be found in the knowledge required to
produce accurate diagnoses and cures."
Daniel E. Koshland, Jr., writing in Science, 1990,
about new technologies available to scientists investigating
genetic influences on crime and mental illness
"One way in which genetic influences may lead to maladjustment is through increasing an
individual's sensitivity to the environment. Not all individuals respond poorly to stress, and it may
be those individuals at genetic risk who are more likely to respond maladaptively."
Thomas G. O'Connor and Michael Rutter,
in Developmental Psychology, July 1996
"Sociology's loss of majors and its deteriorating image are mainly due to most sociologists still
stubbornly insisting, contrary to overwhelming evidence, that biology is not important for
understanding human social behavior."
Sociologist Lee Ellis of Minot State University,
in American Sociologist, Summer 1996
"Perhaps the way to a man's brain is through his stomach."
Neuroscientist Floyd Bloom, commenting on
1995 research in which dietary manipulations
designed to lower serotonin concentrations in the brain
resulted in healthy subjects becoming temporarily more aggressive
"Recent behavioral genetic research raises the possibility that parents have a much more modest
influence on offspring differences in personality and behavior than previously believed."
Matt McGue et al.,
in Developmental Psychology, July 1996