We are all exposed to a variety of toxins in our everyday lives, whether it be from the food we eat or even from the paint in our homes.

Tiny amounts of lead, mercury, chemical flame retardants and organophosphate pesticides, among other toxins, are present in nearly every American’s blood. Though the amounts may seem small, they have a very real affect on our health, and even our IQ.

This video released on Thursday from an environmental health conference in Ottawa, Canada gives us a pretty clear understanding of how these toxins make a difference for children especially. It highlights the point that the significance of toxicity affecting our life doesn’t seem like a big deal in the present moment, but we actually could have a society that is slowly getting lower and lower on the IQ range.

Children are most vulnerable to neurotoxins while in the womb and during the first years of life. “Things are happening very fast in terms of brain development, especially in the third trimester of gestation,” David Bellinger, an expert in children’s environmental health at Harvard University, told The Huffington Post. “Neurons are being born and migrating to where they are supposed to end up in the brain, differentiating into different types of cells, establishing connections with other neurons. Those processes are very sensitive. Everything has to happen in right order at the right time,” added Bellinger, whose research has associated lead, methylmercury and organophosphate pesticides to nationwide drops in IQ of 23 million, 17 million and 300,000, respectively.