Our society goes to great lengths to protect children’s health, from fancy car seats to an elaborate system of recalls on any faulty children’s products. And why shouldn’t we take extra precautions to protect the most vulnerable among us and our future? Somehow when it comes to protecting children from the very well known health hazards of air pollution, however, we continually fall short. Consider that nearly 37 million children live in areas with unhealthy air due to ozone smog or soot pollution.

Many illnesses associated with pollution have been on the rise.  The Center for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported that one in ten American children suffers from asthma, a ten percent increase over the last decade. Over the past three decades the rates of mortality from childhood cancers have decreased dramatically – we’re doing a better job treating and curing children - yet the rates of cancer incidence among children have increased 30 percent during that period.

A recent report on disease clusters by my colleagues included many clusters of childhood cancer and birth defects throughout the United States.  It’s nearly impossible to find the precise cause of these clusters but in many cases there is ample evidence of environmental contamination nearby.  For example:

• Researchers have found that children in Houston, Texas who live within two miles of the industrial Ship Channel have a 56 percent greater chance of getting leukemia.  This area is home to the largest petro-chemical complex in the country and experiences the highest air concentrations of benzene and 1,3-butadiene (both known carcinogens)  in the country.
• A confirmed cluster of Downs Syndrome cases has been documented in Midlothian, Texas.  The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry is studying the area, which reportedly has higher rates of leukemia and other childhood cancers, birth defects, and higher rates of respiratory problems.  Residents are concerned about pollution from three cement plants and a steel-recycling mill.

It’s well known that children and infants are uniquely at risk from air pollution both because of physiological susceptibility and greater relative exposure.  Children often have greater exposures to environmental contaminants; consider children playing outside and toddlers mouthing toys.  Compared to adults, children, on a body-weight basis, ingest more dust and soil and breathe more air.  They are also more susceptible to the health impacts of pollutants because their bodies are immature and still developing.  In particular, children are more susceptible to certain cancers and reproductive problems, and they have a longer expected lifetime in which to develop illness after an exposure.

One thing is clear: A recent slate of clean up measures from US EPA covering power plants, boilers, and cement plants, would go a long way toward protecting the health of children and vulnerable populations.  These proposals would put an end to the practice among these industrial sources of treating our skies like sewers.  The dirty coal and fossil fuel smoke stacks that EPA seeks to regulate emit vast quantities of soot, smog-forming chemicals and hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) such as mercury,  lead, and dangerous aromatics, many of which pose excessive health hazards to children.

• Exposure to fine particulate matter or soot has been linked to birth defects, low birth weights, and premature births, in addition to a range of severe health impact to the general population.
• Nitrogen oxides (NOx) can have a toxic effect on the airways, leading to inflammation, asthmatic reactions, and worsening of allergies and asthma symptoms.
• Ozone smog contributes to decreased lung function, increased respiratory symptoms, asthma, emergency room visits, and hospital admissions.
• Mercury, a dangerous neurotoxin for which coal-fired power plants, boilers, and cement plants contribute to half of all emissions in the United States, is associated with neurological, developmental, and behavioral problems, such as lower IQ, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and impaired memory and motor skills. Hundreds of thousands of newborns each year may be over exposed to mercury in utero, increasing their risk of neuro-developmental effects.   This mercury contamination is associated with hundreds of excess cases per year of a level of cognitive impairment that would be considered mental retardation, which costs up to $3.3 billion for annual care.
• Lead causes a wide array of severe health impacts including neurological, cardiovascular, and immune effects.  Children are particularly sensitive to the effects of lead, which include sensory, motor, cognitive and behavioral impacts, resulting in reduced IQ scores and academic achievement, as well as attention deficit problems.
• Complex aromatic chemicals known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are known to be especially toxic to infants and children.  These substances are known to cross the placenta to harm the unborn fetus, contributing to fetal mortality, increased cancer risk and birth defects. Prenatal exposure to PAHs may also be a risk factor for the early development of asthma-related symptoms and can adversely affect children’s cognitive development, leading to diminished school performance.  Exposure of children to PAHs at levels measured in polluted areas can also adversely affect IQ.

As the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee holds its hearing on Air Quality and Public Health today, I hope they consider the very well established heightened vulnerability of children to air pollution and the fact that there are many simple measures to dramatically improve air quality and reduce health impacts to our children.  If kids could vote, their support for EPA regulations to clean up our air would be a no brainer.

References identifying health impacts to infants and children from various pollutants:

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Wilhelm M, Ritz B. “Residential Proximity to Traffic and Adverse Birth Outcomes in Los Angeles County, California, 1994–1996.” Environ Health Perspect, 2003 Feb; 111(2):207-16.

Wilhelm M, Ritz B. “Local Variations in CO and Particulate Air Pollution and Adverse Birth outcomes in Los Angeles County, California, USA.” Environ Health Perspect, 2005 Sep:113(9):1212-21.

Davies, R.J., Rusznak, C., Devalia, J.L.: “Why is allergy increasing?—environmental factors.” Clinical Experiment Allergy 28 (Suppl 6):8–14, 1998.

Myers GJ, Davidson PW. Prenatal mercury exposure and children: Neurologic, developmental, and behavioral research. Environ Health Perspect 106(Suppl 3): 841-847, 1998.

Grandjean P, White RF, Weihe P, Jorgensen PJ.  Neurotoxic risk caused by stable and variable exposure to methylmercury from seafood. Ambul Pediatr. 3(1):18-23, 2003.

Debes F, Budtz-Jørgensen E, Weihe P, White RF, Grandjean P. Impact of prenatal methylmercury exposure on neurobehavioral function at age 14 years. Neurotoxicol Teratol. 28(5):536-47, 2006.

Oken E, Wright RO, Kleinman KP, Bellinger D, Amarasiriwardena CJ, Hu H, Rich-Edwards JW, Gillman MW. Maternal fish consumption, hair mercury, and infant cognition in a U.S. Cohort. Environ Health Perspect. 113(10):1376-80, 2005.

Oken E, Radesky JS, Wright RO, Bellinger DC, Amarasiriwardena CJ, Kleinman KP, Hu H, Gillman MW. Maternal fish intake during pregnancy, blood mercury levels, and child cognition at age 3 years in a US cohort. Am J Epidemiol.167(10):1171-81, 2008.

Myers GJ, Thurston SW, Pearson AT, Davidson PW, Cox C, Shamlaye CF, Cernichiari E, Clarkson TW. Postnatal exposure to methyl mercury from fish consumption: a review and new data from the Seychelles Child Development Study. Neurotoxicol. 30(3):338-49, 2009.

Yoshida M, Shimizu N, Suzuki M, Watanabe C, Satoh M, Mori K, Yasutake A. Emergence of delayed methylmercury toxicity after perinatal exposure in metallothionein-null and wild-type C57BL mice. Environ Health Perspect. 116(6):746-51, 2008.

Mahaffey KR, Clickner RP, Bodurow CC. Blood organic mercury and dietary mercury intake: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1999 and 2000. Environ Health Perspect. 112(5):562-70, 2004.

Trasande, Leonardo, Schecter, Clyde, Haynes, Karla A., and Landrigan Phillip.  Mental Retardation and Prenatial Methylmercury Toxicity.  2006 Am Journal of Industrial Medicine. 49:153-158.

Trasande, Leonardo, Schecter, Clyde, Haynes, Karla A., and Landrigan Phillip.  2006. Applying Cost Analyses to Drive Policy that Protects Children  Mercury as a Case Study.  Ann. N.Y. Acad.Sci. 1076:911-923.

Salmon A.G. and Meehan T. Potential Impact of Environmental Exposures to Polycyclic Organic Material (POM) on Children’s Health, California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA). http://www.oehha.ca.gov/public_info/public/kids/pdf/PAHs%20on%20Children's%20Health.pdf

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, Public Health Statement for Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs). August 1995. http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/PHS/PHS.asp?id=120&tid=25

Perera FP. DNA Damage from Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons Measured by Benzo[a]pyrene-DNA Adducts in Mothers and Newborns from Northern Manhattan, The World Trade Center Area, Poland, and ChinaCancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2005;14(3):709–14.

Perera FP, Rauh V, Tsai WY, Kinney P, Camann D, et al. (2003) Effects of transplacental exposure to environmental pollutants on birth outcomes in amultiethnic population. Environ Health Perspect 111: 201–205.

Perera FP et. al. Effect of Prenatal Exposure to Airborne Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons on Neurodevelopment in the First 3 Years of Life among Inner-City ChildrenEnviron Health Perspect 114:1287–1292 (2006).

Perera, FP et. al. Prenatal Airborne Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Exposure and Child IQ at Age 5 Years. Pediatrics 2009;124:e195–e202.

This article originally appeared on the NRDC blog, Switchboard.