The Role of the Government in Protecting the Health of Children

The Role of the Government in Protecting the Health of Children

Reference: Bette Hileman, Protecting a Child's Health - Hearing examines steps government should take to study risks from toxic chemicals. June 12, 2000. Chem & Engineering News. Pg. 31-32.

There is widespread public fear as well as concern within the federal government about increasing illness rates among children. This issue and its suspected cause, namely, environmental chemical exposure, is now incorporated in the regulation of chemical contaminants in the environment as well as in the setting of governmental policies for chemical use and release. Some diseases such as asthma, certain childhood cancers, mental retardation, and attention deficit hyperactivity syndrome (ADHD) appear to have increased dramatically. It is also true that certain childhood infectious diseases and infant mortality have decreased greatly over the past years.

Representative John Porter (R-Ill.), Chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health & Human Services, Education & Related Agencies, convened a hearing on May 2, 2000 to assess the role of federal government in attempting to understand the causes of these diseases. Philip Landrigan of the Center for Children's Health and the Environment at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, New York City told the subcommittee that only about 10-20% of these diseases may be explained by genetic origin. That leaves approximately 80-90% of unknown origin.

Data suggest that there has been a doubling in asthma over the past 20 years. Aside from asthma, about 17% of children under the age of 18 years have a developmental disability, and about 2% of school age children have a serious developmental disability such as mental retardation or cerebral palsy. Teachers also say that attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is much more common today than 20 years ago.

The problem that exists today is that the data to determine the causes of these apparent increases in childhood illnesses are scant, at best. There are no clear records of trends that control for confounding factors such as better technology, better diagnostic tools, and better public awareness.

However, there is increasing suspicion that, in some cases, exposure to toxic chemicals causes or exacerbates some the these diseases. One example is air pollution. Air pollution triggers asthma, and the incidence of asthma is significantly higher in poor areas of New York City where the air is dirtier than in the wealthier areas of the city.

We note that the question of exactly how environmental conditions, i.e. those associated with "wealth" or "poverty" may differ and to what extent they differ from conditions that existed 60, 40, 20 or even 10 years ago, is not known. As a matter of science, the only way to truly determine the nature and extent of any potential hazard is to determine exactly what substances are found in the child's environment and at what concentrations (and for what time period) they exist or may have existed. In this effort, the federal government has undertaken a number of initiatives to understand the relationship between chemical exposures and childhood diseases and to reduce known hazards.

One initiative has been the national asthma strategy launched in January, 1998. Another effort is the initiative to eliminate lead paint hazards in homes where children under the age of 6 live. Research centers funded by the EPA and the Department of Health and Human Services propose that the government support a large scale longitudinal study that would follow a cohort of 100,000 children from near conception through infancy, childhood, and into adulthood. This would be modeled after the Framingham Heart Study which provided major breakthroughs in understanding the risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

By: Arlene L. Weiss, MS. DABT, Contributing Editor