Who answered this question
Q In one of your letters to the Government—I am trying to find it—you referred to genetic changes happening in the kids. This is very, very contentious and very contested.
A All scientific research has two sides to the coin, but the point is that there is an evolving field of neurobiology that suggests that environmental or care conditions sculpt the brain’s capacities and have an influence on how our physiology is expressed. The reason for that is that we are increasingly realising that it is not as simple as you have your genetics and you grow into them, or it is just your environment, but that the two have an interplay and influence each other. This body of research is pointing to the fact that increasingly as children and young people are facing extreme adversities and they secrete a lot of fright hormones, that has an influence on how they then develop the capacity to control their behaviours. This is a very, very respected field of research across the world now.
Q In one of your letters to the Government—I am trying to find it—you referred to genetic changes happening in the kids. This is very, very contentious and very contested.
A All scientific research has two sides to the coin, but the point is that there is an evolving field of neurobiology that suggests that environmental or care conditions sculpt the brain’s capacities and have an influence on how our physiology is expressed. The reason for that is that we are increasingly realising that it is not as simple as you have your genetics and you grow into them, or it is just your environment, but that the two have an interplay and influence each other. This body of research is pointing to the fact that increasingly as children and young people are facing extreme adversities and they secrete a lot of fright hormones, that has an influence on how they then develop the capacity to control their behaviours. This is a very, very respected field of research across the world now.
Comment