Children & Clean Air
Source: Clean Air Council

Trends in Children's Health
Drastic increases in the rates of chronic childhood illnesses are sweeping the United States and rest of the world.

While the causes of these increases are not fully understood, they ultimately lie in an interaction of genetics and the environment. The rate of change is of such a high level that it would be unreasonable to attribute it to a major shift in human genetics. More likely, genetic predispositions are coming to light due to increased pressure from the environmental factors. The majority of evidence indicates that now more than ever, the environment is influencing our health and the health of our children.

· Nearly 5 million children (7%) in the United States suffer from asthma. The rate of prevalence increased by 74% and the number of children dying from asthma increased threefold between 1979 and 1996.

· Childhood cancer rates have risen dramatically, with cancers of the Central Nervous System increasing by 25%, incidences of Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia increasing by 20%, and an average increase in all cancer rates of 10%.

Children Are Different From Adults!
Children are both exposed to more pollution and are more susceptible to the effects of this exposure.

· Increased Exposure—Children are exposed to more pollution per unit of body weight than adults are.

· Children breathe, eat, and drink more for their body weight than adults. This increase percentage of intake means that the amount of pollution in our air, food, and water has a much more significant effect on children's health than it does on the health of an adult.

· Children's behavior also increases their exposure to environmental toxicants. Children touch more things and put more things in their mouths as a way of exploring their environment. Also, their close proximity to the ground and car exhaust pipes increases their exposure.

· Increased Susceptibility—Children's bodies react differently to environmental toxicants than adults' do.

· Children are often less able to metabolize and remove foreign compounds than adults. In addition, children's bodies often absorb these compounds at a higher rate than adults do.

· Children's immune systems are still immature and are often not developed enough to provide adequate protection from environmental toxins.

· Children's bodies are still developing, and exposure to environmental toxins has an impact on how this development progresses. Developmental problems can manifest themselves as physical deficits and disorders as well as disorders of the central nervous system resulting in psychological deficits.

· Because children are still at the beginning of their lives, the effects of environmental toxicants have more time to accumulate and manifest themselves.

Air Pollution
Common air pollutants, such as ozone, particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, and sulfur dioxides are associated with increased respiratory illnesses and symptoms, aggravation of asthma, and decreases in lung function in children. One recent study found an association between particulate air pollution and an increased risk of infant mortality.

In 1995, about 18 million children under the age of 10 lived in areas with air quality that did not meet federal standards. Parents can protect children by checking air pollution levels regularly where they live, limiting children's outdoor exercise when air pollution levels are high, and ensuring that the child's school is prepared for smog episodes.

Reforms needed to protect children include improving standards for air pollutants, particularly by implementing the newly revised ozone and particulate matter standards, and adopting more aggressive programs to control air pollution.