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Issues Children
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Rory Watson Brussels
A publication that looks at how the environment affects children’s health will be released in Brussels on Monday (15 April), at the start of the European Commission’s Green Week.
Children, it says, might be the "canaries in the coalmines"—the first people to show adverse health effects resulting from environmental factors, with possible lifelong implications for adults and children.
The 225 page document, a collaborative venture between the WHO’s Regional Office for Europe and the European Environment Agency, is intended to promote a better understanding among scientists and professionals working in child health and environmental protection of children’s health issues relating to the environment.
Children are particularly vulnerable to environmental threats, because they breathe, eat, and drink more than adults in proportion to their body weight; they may be exposed for a longer time to such threats at a time when they are more sensitive; and their metabolism differs from that of adults.
The publication reflects WHO’s decision at its third ministerial conference on environment and health in London in 1999 to prioritise children’s particular vulnerability and helps prepare the ground for the next conference in the series, to be held in Budapest in 2004.
It gives an overview of environmental health in children; examines the specific effects of environmental contaminants, including foodborne and waterborne contaminants, in disorders such as asthma, atopic disorders, and birth defects; and analyses the different effects on health of exposure to tobacco smoke, pesticides, electromagnetic fields, and ultraviolet radiation. Finally, it offers a basis for the assessment and development of environmental health policies that focus on children.
The publication brings a holistic approach to the subject, paying attention to economic, social, and psychosocial factors and issues as diverse as air quality, substandard buildings, noise, food and water contamination, and health hazards from waste sites and poor transport systems.
It confirms that, on the whole, the health of children in the 51 countries of the WHO’s European region is satisfactory. But this is tempered by the re-emergence of diseases previously under control, such as diphtheria and tuberculosis; an increase in chronic diseases such as asthma and allergies; and the emergence of new morbidity from substance abuse, injuries, and mental disorders.
The two organisations acknowledge that many aspects of the relation between children’s health and the environment are uncertain. They note that data on birth defects are lacking, and that detailed figures on cancer in children date only from 1990. They specifically invite contributions to update this basic work and plan to create a dedicated website for this.
They also aim to publish a separate report later this year on the impact of endocrine disrupting chemicals on children’s health.
Children’s Health and Environment: A Review of Evidence,
edited by G Tamburlini, O S von Ehrenstein, and R Bertollini, can be accessed at
www.who.it from 15 April.
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Collections under
which this article appears:Environmental
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