The Poisoning of America’s Children: Keys Preven...

“Today’s children inhabit a fundamentally different planet from the one we experienced as children. In the past 40 years, at least 70,000 chemicals have been introduced into their world…many through consumer products.” (CHILDREN”S Health Environmental Coalition) Childhood asthma has nearly doubled in the past 20 years, and asthma deaths among children and young people increased by 118% between 1980 and 1993. Asthma is now the leading cause of hospital admissions for children. (EPA September 1996)

Likewise, according to the National Cancer Institute, children’s cancer has risen 10.8% in the past decade, with an estimated 80% TO 90% linked to exposure to carcinogens found in the environment. (Landigan, M.D. and Needleman, M.D., Raising Toxic Free Children, 1996)

MANY CHEMICALS WIDELY USED AND COMMONLY FOUND AT HOME ARE TOXIC TO CHILDREN. It is no coincidence that at the same time, “an epidemic of developmental, learning, and behavioral disabilities has become evident among children.” Animal and human studies demonstrate that many of these chemicals are developmental neurotoxins that contribute to these problems. Neurotoxins pose a health threat that those of us who want to live longer and healthier lives need to be about.

Early in my childhood, I remember as a baby boomer, my mother’s high priority on two things: doing homework and keeping a spotless home. I remember every Saturday as being cleaning day with all of us participating in cleaning everything from the dust on the furniture to the dirt on the stairs leading to our 3rd floor tenement home. My grandparents owned the home where I spent my first16 years. Their hard-work ethic made quite an impression in my life. There are many aspects of that life that I will always respect and value, but the disease of asthma isn’t one of them. Anyone who has ever had trouble breathing, even for a moment, can begin to imagine what the trauma of this disease is like.

In those days, we thought that products such as Tide, Lysol and Clorox were simply the hallmark of a clean home. We knew that we needed to exercise caution when using certain products, like Draino, which had a picture of the skull and crossbones on it meaning “warning”. What we didn’t know was that years later, the use of products like these would be the subject of much controversy and scrutiny, especially by the very baby boomers like me for whom these “convenience” products were manufactured.

I’ll never forget the day I read my first MSDS sheet, material safety data sheets as they are called. I had been challenged by the vice president of our counseling enters to consider the value of detoxifying our home and office as a way to reduce my need for my inhalants. She was persistent that the evidence was astounding. I merely had to take a look at the hazardous ingredients present in the products I used everyday and the symptoms they could cause and suddenly, as if it were yesterday, began to make a possible link…to the world of asthma and allergies. A link that neither my wellness nor my medical practitioners had ever mentioned. I wondered….what if she is right?

I thought about all the children I had worked with when I was an elementary guidance counselor. How many children were on Ritalin, how many had EAP’s (educational treatment programs) because they couldn’t concentrate? How many had behavioral disorders? We used to point the finger at genetics, or diet, or family dynamics. We never even considered the harmfulness of out gassing of chemicals used in their homes and even in their schools. We never even though about it…although some people have.

Bill Moyer, a well respected reports on PBS, recently featured a television special entitled “Kids and Chemicals”. This sequel to Trade Secrets”, aired two years ago was just as explicit and compelling. The program was an attempt to educate parents about the seriousness of the problem and prompt them to seek alternative action. Moyer interviewed Dr. Phillip Landrigan, of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, who works with scientists around the world to understand how kids are affected by their exposure to chemicals. According to Landrigan, of the 3000 high production volume chemicals in use in this country today, only 43% have been even minimally tested. Further, he stated that children are potentially more vulnerable to chemicals than adults. “They play on the ground, they live low, they breathe more air, they eat more food, they put their hands in their mouth and so they transfer more toxic chemicals into their body than we do’? (Transcript from PBS broadcast, Kids and Chemicals)

Dr. Sandra Stienberger, a biologist at Cornell University, joins Dr. Landrigan in asserting that exposure during pregnancy doesn’t by itself mean that a child will get ill. “What matters is the intensity of the exposure during pregnancy and when it occurs in fetal development. A chemical exposure occurring early in pregnancy might cause miscarriage,” argue the researchers. If it occurs later on, it might cause birth defects. Later still, it might damage brain cells. Says Dr. Stienberger, “Maybe certain problems that we understand…as attention deficit disorders, hyperactivity, the inability to pay attention aggressive and violent behaviors might have their origins during these windows of vulnerability.” (Transcript from PBS broadcast)

Moyer’s’ reports on a newly proposed project called, “The National Children’s Study” that will track 100,000 children from the womb to age 18 and provide definitive answers necessary for new regulations and laws protecting children from exposure to toxins.

In the meantime, what are some steps that we can take to make our home and office safer for us? We can begin by replacing everyday mass-produced consumer products. Take action now. “The very nature of change is gradual. It begins with a decision to change, a commitment to change.” (Debra Lynn Dadd, Nontoxic Home and Office) Finding safe products easy and rewarding. Even the smallest steps can make an enormous difference.

This article was written by Cynthia V.Mitchell, M.Ed, wellness consultant and owner of Time for What Matters, the company with “an eye on your health”