Declaration
on Children and their health and their environment
Discussed and approved at the ISDE General Assembly (Washington, 2001)
ISDE, consisting of physicians and health
professionals, is strongly concerned about the potentially devastating and possibly
irreversible effects of children’s health by multiple factors in the
environment. We urge all stakeholders to take prompt and effective actions to
achieve significant reductions in hazardous exposures to children.
Environmental health risks to children are increasingly being recognised
and the awareness is growing that there is a need to protect children from the
damaging health effects of environmental degradation. The Convention on the
Rights of the Child states (Article 24, paragraph 1) that a child has the right
to 'the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health and to
facilities for the treatment of illness and rehabilitation of health',
particularly as they bear a disproportionate risk to the rest of the
population.
There is a growing body of scientific evidence
that demonstrates the wide array of children's health problems that can be
brought on and/or exacerbated by environmental exposures. Examples of the major
environmental health problems affecting children are:
·
Asthma deaths among
children and young people have increased tremendously during the last decade
and asthma is now the leading cause of hospital admissions for children in many
countries
·
Children exposed to tobacco
smoke at home have more days of restricted activity, bed confinement, and
missed school days each year than other children.
·
Lead poisoning affects
millions of children aged five and under, especially in countries which
continue to permit lead in gasoline and paint
·
Millions of children under
the age of 12 live within four miles of a toxic waste dump, or live on a waste
dump
·
Polluted waters can affect
children when they come into contact with rivers or lakes and through the
consumption of certain freshwater fish
·
The re-emergence of
vector-borne diseases, particularly malaria, is occurring as a result of
climate and land-use changes
·
The effects of
desertification and deforestation on children's health are enormous
·
Children may face
developmental defects to the endocrine system, growth or mental retardation and
neurobehavioural toxicological effects as a result of environmental exposure to
pesticides, persistent organic pollutants and other chemicals
·
Children are at greater
toxicological risk after exposure to chemicals because their systems are still
developing and because they consume more food and fluids and they breathe more
air, relative to their body size, than adults
·
Children's behaviour (early
hand-mouth activity, their indoor and outdoor play activities) mean that they
are at increased risk of exposure to dust, soil and other environmental
contaminants as compared to adults
·
In several parts of the
world, child labour is still accepted as a way to provide sufficient family
income. In these countries an increasing number of children are at risk of
occupational diseases and injuries.
Taking these facts in account ISDE would like to
see action on the following points:
·
The best way to protect
children from environmental hazards is to reduce or eliminate harmful
environmental exposures. In addition, in setting protective measures, including
emission standards, food safety standards and all other regulations, the
relatively high exposure and susceptibility of children must be taken into
account.
·
to build an international
platform for multi-disciplinary expertise and a forum to present and discuss
the latest research findings in paediatric environmental health. The overall
objective is to stimulate actions that may contribute to the understanding of
the relationship between the environment and the health status of children. An
aim is to improve the quality of the environment and thus the health and
well-being of children
·
stimulate
research on the relationship between environmental contamination and children's
health and advocate policy to minimise childhood exposure to environmental
contaminants
·
more
research into the environmental causes of ill health in children, especially
into neurological diseases.
There
are very few studies of children and delayed effects of acute Organo Phosfate
poisoning, despite evidence from adults that delayed psychological deficits
occur. There needs to be long term prospective epidemiological studies of the
health impacts of Organo Phospate and Organo Chloride pesticides, with a focus
on intellectual development. There has been virtually no action since the
‘early warnings’ of Angle in 1968, on the neurotoxicological effects of Organo
Phospate poisonings, even though the extent of these effects ‘might exceed the
effects currently presented by lead’ (Weiss, 1997). Data from poison centres
could be the basis for some of these studies.
·
develop a greater awareness
among health professionals of children's health and the environment and enhance
public awareness regarding environmental hazards and children's health
·
encourage national governments,
inter-governmental organisations and international agencies to review current
standards and to set new public health and environmental standards to ensure
protection of children's health
·
promote research projects
to protect children, particularly by identifying and stimulating research into
their unique susceptibility and high exposure to environmental pollutants
·
communicate internationally
about the action and research priorities needed in the different countries of
the world in order to assist policy and decision making
·
facilitate contacts between
individual researchers and organisations by using electronic networking; in
order to have better linkages between exposure and health data via different
stakeholders in the field of children’s environmental health.
·
promote educational efforts
concerning children's environmental health threats, in order to provide better
consumer information to families about children's risks; and to educate health
professionals to identify, prevent and reduce toxic threats to children.
·
apply
the lessons from the histories of thalidomide, DES, lead, etc. and don’t use
children as guinea pigs - especially as, compared to adults, children get
little or no benefit from the environmental exposures that we give them
·
put
children at the centre of government policies on housing, poverty elimination,
income support, and health.
·
give
children relevant legal protection with safety standards for chemicals that
take their special vulnerabilities into account. For example provide in regulation
an extra 10-fold safety margin for children, as well as provisions for the
cumulative exposures of children to pesticides. 10,000 existing pesticide
tolerances need to be re-assessed.
·
reduce
children’s exposures to chemicals, radiation and other potential causes of
ill-health, prioritising persistent and bioaccumulating substances, especially
pesticides and other toxic chemicals to which children are exposed in food
,water, and consumer products, (such as the phthalates in children’s toys), utilising
the precautionary principle whenever risks are likely to be serious and
irreversible.
·
give
the public the right to know what their children are exposed to with adequate
consumer product labelling laws and accessible toxic emissions registers, like
the toxic release inventories in the USA. There is no equivalent in Europe,
despite OECD recommendations, although there are one or two Member State
systems e.g. the UK and the Netherlands.
·
improve
the education and awareness of parents, teachers and other guardians of
children so that they can help create safer environments for them. Equivalents
of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ “Handbook of Environmental Health for
Children”, and the “Resource Guide” and training materials for US doctors and
nurses produced by the Children’s Environmental Health Network, California,
would be helpful in this.
Taking steps now to prevent disease, illness, and injury will not only diminish
the potential for wide-spread children’s suffering but reduce the high costs of
treating illnesses which might have been avoided.
ISDE commends the commitment of many nations to
negotiate an internationally binding and verifiable agreement establishing
targets and timetables for meaningful reductions in emissions harmful for
children.
At the same time, ISDE urges to take immediate
action to advance policies designed to increase the protection of children
around the world and to accelerate the
development of regulation and standards
that are effective in protection children’s health.
The time has come for the nations of the world
to act. The science is credible, and the potential impacts profound. Prudence —
and a commitment to act responsibly on behalf of the world's children and all
future generations — dictate a prompt and effective response.