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How
to Protect Your Children from Environmental Risks
Pollution-related illnesses may be on the rise, but there
are things parents can do. 
Scientists and health experts are increasingly concerned about
the role environmental toxins play in childhood diseases. Asthma
rates tripled in the 1980s, and childhood cancer rates have
increased 10 percent over the last 20 years. Here, steps parents can
take to protect their families from the five worst environmental
threats to children's health:
Lead |
Air
Pollution | Pesticides
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Environmental
Tobacco Smoke | Drinking
Water Contamination
LEAD
According to a recent nationwide survey, 900,000 American
children aged one to five have blood lead levels higher than the
Center for Disease Control's level of concern.
Today lead is
recognized as the single most significant environmental health
threat to American children. Lead is found to be of greatest
harm to children ages one to six. Young children of urban
minority families are at greatest risk of lead
poisoning.
Children are particularly vulnerable to the toxic effects
of lead, because their highest potential exposure comes when
they are most physiologically susceptible. Lead affects
virtually every system in the body and is particularly harmful
to developing brain and nervous systems of fetuses and young
children. Low blood lead levels can impair cognitive and
physical development. As exposure increases, the severity of
symptoms increases as well.
Lead is ubiquitous in the environment and extremely toxic.
Its effects in the human body are cumulative. Lead is found in
paint formulated prior to 1978, dust, dirt, drinking water and
food. For pre-school children, lead in paint is the greatest
source of exposure. Lead in dusts, soils and drinking water
are the next most significant
sources.
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What Parents Can Do Test your children.
If you have concerns about your child's blood lead level, you can
get them tested. Ask your pediatrician, medical provider, or state
childhood lead poisoning prevention program for information on
testing.
Ask questions. If you are buying a home or
renting an apartment built before 1978, find out if it contains
lead-based paint. Federal law requires disclosure of known
information about lead-based paint before the sale or rental of most
housing built before 1978. You can also hire a professional for
inspection and risk assessment. For more information, contact the National Lead
Information Center at (800) 424-LEAD.
Test drinking
water. If you are concerned about lead in your drinking water
from plumbing pipes and fixtures, have it tested. Call the EPA
drinking water hotline at (800) 426-4791. If you do suspect
contamination, let the water run for at least 30 seconds before use
if the faucet has been unused for several hours. (Tip: instead of
wasting it, use this water to give plants a drink.)
Don't
use hot water directly from the tap for drinking, cooking or
making infant formula -- water heaters can increase lead levels in
the water. While some home water filters can remove lead, be sure
the filter is certified to do so by an independent testing
organization.
Inquire before purchase. If you're
installing new faucets in your home, you can now find out from the
manufacturer whether they meet California's Proposition 65 standards
requiring that they be virtually lead free.
AIR POLLUTION
In 1995, eighteen million children under the age of 10 lived
in areas in the United States with air quality that did not meet
federal standards.
Outdoor air
pollutants include ozone, particulate matter, nitrogen oxide,
carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, heavy metals and other
pollutants. Primary sources are motor vehicles, coal burning
power plants, refineries, incinerators, and industrial
facilities.
Children are particularly vulnerable to air
pollution because relative to body weight and lung surface,
they breathe more air per pound than adults. They also spend
more time outdoors when pollutant rates are highest and tend
to be more active when they are outdoors which increases
breathing rates and therefore exposure to pollutants in the
air.
Air pollutants are associated with increased acute
respiratory illness and symptoms such as worsening of asthma
and reduced lung function. Close to five million children in
the United States under age eighteen have asthma, the most
common chronic illness among
children.
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What Parents Can Do Check pollution
levels in your area and plan accordingly. Call the county health
department to identify the local air pollution control
agency.
Limit children's outdoor exercise when smog
levels are high.
Take extra care with family members
who are asthmatics or have chronic lung disease or other pulmonary
illnesses. They should be particularly careful about exposure to air
pollution.
Find out if your child's school is prepared
for smog episodes. There should be systems in place to alert
teachers and others when smog levels are high. Sports and other
outdoor activities should be curtailed when necessary.
Ask
questions. If you're concerned about your area, the Toxics
Release Inventory is free to any citizen who requests it and can
identify, by name and location, industrial facilities that release
toxic substances into the air, water, or land. Contact the EPA's
Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Information Hotline
at (800) 535-0202.
PESTICIDES
Nationwide, 47 percent of households with children under the
age of five were found to store at least one pesticide within the
reach of children.
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Children are exposed to pesticides all around them -- in
their homes, schools, playgrounds, food and water.
In 1995, the U.S. Department of Agriculture tested nearly
7,000 fruit and vegetable samples and detected pesticide
residues in 65 percent; residues of 65 different pesticides
were found. Thirty-nine pesticides have been discovered in the
groundwater of 34 states.
Pesticide exposure has been
linked to certain cancers in children, damage to the central
nervous system, and acute poisoning. Parental exposure to
pesticides has been linked to birth defects in
children.
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What Parents Can Do Eliminate the use of
pesticides around your home. Determine whether treatment for
pest problems is needed. Many pest control services suggest
pesticide use on a regular basis in situations that don't warrant
it. Try non-toxic methods first.
If necessary, hire pest
control or lawn care companies who use integrated pest
management approaches, which focus on the least toxic method of
control and prevention rather than treatment. Make sure it's
registered in your state as a certified pesticide
applicator.
Buy organically grown foods whenever
possible -- both packaged goods like cereals, bread and pasta, and
fresh produce. If some are unavailable or too expensive, choose
organic for the foods your children consume most.
Purchase
foods in season. Imported produce may come from countries with
less stringent pesticide laws. Produce shipped long distance may be
treated with post-harvest pesticides.
Work with school
boards to reduce pesticide use and adopt integrated pest
management programs on school grounds.
ENVIRONMENTAL TOBACCO SMOKE
The E.P.A. estimates that environmental tobacco smoke is
responsible for 150,000 to 300,000 lower respiratory tract
infections in infants and children under the age of eighteen months
every year, including bronchitis and pneumonia.
Cigarette
smoking still prevails in this country and is the leading
cause of avoidable death. Forty-three percent of children aged
two months to eleven years, or nearly 17 million children,
live in homes with one smoker. In addition, there are a large
number of minors who are smokers themselves. More than one
million young people become regular smokers each
year.
While the health effects of environmental tobacco
smoke may not be as severe as those associated with smoking,
they are significant -- especially for children. These
incidences result in 7,500 to 15,000 hospitalizations
annually. Environmental tobacco smoke has been found to
increase the risk of sudden infant death syndrome and induce
asthma in children.
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What Parents Can Do In addition to the obvious
solution -- stop smoking and avoid those who do -- the following are
suggestions for what to do to protect the health of your
children:
Increase the ventilation if someone insists
on smoking indoors.
Store all cigarettes and other
tobacco-related products out of the reach of
children.
Find out about the smoking policies of day
care providers, pre-schools, schools and caregivers who spend time
with your children.
Spread the word. Help other
parents, school boards, community leaders and organizations
understand the serious health risks of environmental tobacco smoke.
Encourage non-smoking policies which take into account the special
vulnerability of children.
Avoid smoking, and exposure
to smoke-filled environments, during pregnancy.
Test your
home for radon. Radon contamination in combination with smoking
is a much greater health risk than either one individually.
DRINKING WATER CONTAMINATION
In 1994 and 1995, according to Environmental Protection Agency
data, 45 million Americans drank water from systems that fell short
of Safe Drinking Water Act standards.
America's
drinking water is safer than it has been in decades due to the
Safe Drinking Water Act. Unfortunately, it's not quite safe
enough. Children are particularly vulnerable because they
drink more than twice as much water as adults per day,
relative to their body weight.
Many pollutants are
found in our water: microorganisms; pesticides which come from
agricultural runoff; lead from plumbing; arsenic, radon,
trihalomethanes and other disinfection byproducts formed when
chlorine and or other disinfectants are used to purify
water.
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What Parents Can Do Find out what's in your
drinking water by contacting your water supplier or local or
state drinking water program. The water supplier generally must test
for contaminants and make the results available to the
public.
Determine the source of your drinking water
and its possible threats. Your water supplier should be able to
provide this information.
Reduce contamination risks at
home. To avoid lead exposure, run the water for thirty seconds
before use if the faucet has been unused for several
hours.
Beware of bottled water. It may not be any
better than what comes out of your tap.
Use home filters
certified as effective to remove specific pollutants of
concern.
Ask questions. If you want to know more about
reducing water pollution, contact the Clean Water Network, a clearinghouse
of groups working to protect surface and drinking water (by phone:
(202) 289-2395, by email: cleanwaternt@igc.apc.org).
Test
your drinking water. The EPA Drinking Water Hotline, (800)
426-4791, can help you locate a certified lab in your area.
Based on OUR CHILDREN
AT RISK: The 5 Worst Environmental Threats to Their Health,
a November 1997 report by the Natural Resources Defense Council.
last revised 11.25.97 |
