Why kids are especially vulnerable 

There is a reason that Generation Green focuses so much on children’s risks and children’s health. Yes, we remain concerned about environmental risks to ourselves and our entire families. But there are very good reasons to focus on the children first in all of our efforts.

First, children's bodies are still growing, so their organs are more likely to be harmed. If children get sick, getting well may be harder for them than for us. Also, their immune systems, which fight illness, are still developing and may not develop completely if exposed to toxins early in life.

Second, for their size, children eat more food, drink more water and breathe more air than adults. When they get lead in their bodies or breathe in harmful gases, for example, they get a bigger dose in comparison to their body weight than adults would. When arsenic is in the water, they are more dangerously exposed. And so on.

Third, children play and crawl on the ground. This means they are closer to things that might cause health problems, like dust, household chemicals and pesticide residues on foliage or floors. Furthermore, babies and young children put all sorts of things in their mouths—including objects that might have toxic residues on them.

Learn About Environmental Threats to Children's Health

In the past two decades, the overall incidence of childhood disease has been rising. Over roughly the same time frame, human exposure to synthetic chemicals in the environment has risen significantly. Though much remains to be learned about the causes of childhood diseases, environmental factors clearly play a major role. Thus, if the health of our environmental worsens, the health of our families will worsen as well.

To learn more about the environmental risks to which children are exposed, click on this link, “Our Children At Risk,” a valuable report from the National Resource Defense Council.

In 2002, the European regional office of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Environment Agency jointly issued a report called “Children's health and environment: A review of evidence.” According to Dr. Marc Danzon, WHO Regional Director for Europe, “This publication shows that European governments and institutions can collaborate to protect children from environmental threats. This goal lies at the very heart of sustainable development and is a challenge for the future of today’s and tomorrow’s generations.” To explore this report in more detail, click here.

Over seven weeks in summer 2002, nearly 30 physicians and scientists banded together to run a series of full-page ads in the New York Times arguing that chemicals should be treated like medicines and should be proved safe before being introduced on the market and into the bodies of children. To learn more about the campaign, review the white papers and other research that support the campaign's points, and learn about related matters, click here to visit the Center for Children’s Health and the Environment at www.childenvironment.org.

The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, in collaboration with The Environmental Council of the States, offers "Snapshots of Children's Environmental Health: Profiles of State Data and Programs" online. The project provides profiles of state health and environmental agency data collection and activities in four key areas of children's environmental health: childhood asthma, lead poisoning, childhood cancer, and fish consumption advisories. To learn more, click here.

In Spring 2000, the organization Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility released a report, “In Harm's Way: Toxic Threats to Child Development,” which examined the influence of toxic chemicals on neurological development, learning capabilities and behavior in children. The findings indicate that disabilities in those three areas are the result of complex interactions among genetic, environmental and social factors—impacting children during particularly vulnerable periods of development. Because toxic exposure and other environmental factors are clearly preventable, the researchers concluded that regulators and others should put more effort into reducing environmental threats as a means to improve children’s health. To find out more about the report, click here. 

More than 30 years ago, Rachel Carson's “Silent Spring” first warned that manmade chemicals were taking a deadly toll on birds and wildlife. Only recently, however, have we recognized other consequences of such toxic threats: chemicals in the environment are derailing sexual development and reproduction. And that’s not only occurring in a host of animal populations; it’s happening among humans as well. For an overview of this problem, click on this link: Hormone Disruptors: New Class of Chemicals Can Affect How a Child Develops.