Growing Up On Chemicals - Our Children's Toxic Environment
By Jane Sheppard
The scientific advancements of industry and agriculture have brought
about the manufacture of over 75,000 synthetic chemicals, with a
marked increase in the use of highly toxic pesticides in recent
years. No matter where we live, our children are repeatedly exposed
to these toxins. Most parents are not aware of the serious health
risks our children face from pesticides and other industrial chemicals.
The impact on short and long-term health is just beginning to be
uncovered.
Children come in contact with pesticides every day through the
food they eat, the water they drink and the air they breathe. In
addition, most children are exposed to pesticides in their homes
and schools, as well as on playgrounds, lawns, athletic fields,
and public parks. These substances enter their small bodies through
the skin, lungs, mouth and eyes. If the body cannot eliminate the
toxins, they tend to be stored in body fat and accumulate over time.
Infants and small children are especially vulnerable because they
absorb substances faster and have more difficulty eliminating them.
Their kidneys are immature and cannot excrete foreign compounds
as fast as adults.1
Very little is known about the combined effects of repeated low-level
exposures to many different chemicals. But the preliminary evidence
and information that is
known alerts us that we have a critical, universal problem that
is slowly diminishing the health and well-being of our children.
Health Effects of Pesticides
Pesticides are designed to be toxic. Their purpose is to kill insects,
weeds, fungus, rodents and other so-called pests. Sadly, they also
kill other living things in the vicinity where they are applied.
An estimated 67 million birds are killed yearly by pesticides in
the U.S.2 The majority
of pesticides have not been fully tested for their ability to cause
harm to human health. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
admits that reliable toxicity data exists for only about 43 percent
of chemicals in use today, and less than seven percent of chemicals
used in high volume are thoroughly studied.
Our Children at Risk: The 5
Worst Environmental Threats to Their Health, published by
the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), identifies the special
vulnerability of children to environmental hazards and highlights
the evidence pointing to a link between pollution and childhood
illnesses. This 1997 report makes recommendations, at both the policy
and personal levels, for the protection of the next generation.
The chapter on pesticides is a fully documented, in-depth report
that discusses the health effects to children from pesticide exposures.
The report presents the epidemiological and laboratory studies that
contribute to a growing body of evidence linking pesticide exposure
to adverse health effects including cancer, birth defects, reproductive
harm, neurological and developmental toxicity, immuno toxicity,
and disruption of the endocrine system.
The evidence of cancer and other serious health effects from exposure
to pesticides is compelling. Well-conducted, peer-reviewed animal
studies have shown certain pesticides to cause cancer. Epidemiological
studies indicate an association between pesticide exposure and the
development of certain cancers in children including leukemia, sarcomas,
lymphomas, Wilms’ tumors (malignant tumors of the kidney) and brain
tumors.4
In animal tests, most major classes of pesticides have been shown
to adversely affect the developing nervous system, impairing both
mental and motor development. These tests show that pesticides can
cause subtle impairment in behavior when exposure occurs immediately
before or after birth. Learning ability, activity level, memory,
emotion, sight and hearing can all be affected.5
Reproductive or developmental disorders such as infertility, spontaneous
abortions, and birth defects have been associated with pesticide
exposure.6 A substantial
body of evidence suggests that exposure to certain pesticides may
compromise the immune system of infants and children, increasing
their risk of infectious disease.7
A collaboration between public health professionals, environmental
organizers, and policy advocates resulted in a 124 page report entitled
Generations at Risk: How Environmental
Toxicants May Affect Reproductive Health in California. This
report looks at the science involved in determining toxicity of
chemicals and states that “toxicological information is often incomplete.
Animal testing usually looks at health effects using one chemical
at a time. This strategy fails to provide information about interactive
effects, which may occur with exposure to more than one chemical.
Moreover, animal tests often fail to examine for subtle, delayed,
or difficult-to-diagnose conditions. Epidemiological (human) studies
are often limited by inaccurate exposure assessments and incomplete
information about health outcomes. Further complicating matters,
the federal government is reducing its support for research and
information analysis. Corporate funding is filling the void, providing
an opportunity for bias in study design and data interpretation.”8
Doris Rapp, M.D., a leading environmental medical specialist and
pediatric allergist, has written a fully documented, 600-page book
describing the causes, health effects and treatments of environmental
illness. Is This Your Child’s
World? How You Can Fix the Schools and Homes That Are Making Your
Children Sick provides help for children who are hyperactive,
asthmatic, or suffering from chronic illness or learning problems.
Environmental illness is a label for an assortment of medical problems
caused by environmental factors, including chemicals. Common symptoms
are some combination of nasal congestion, fatigue, headaches, hyperactivity,
muscle or joint pain, twitches, blurred vision, burning skin, abdominal
discomfort, and inability to think clearly, as well as a variety
of learning or behavior difficulties.9
Children today have a variety
of perplexing learning and behavior problems that were not occurring
a few decades ago. Many are given the label ADHD and prescribed
harmful drugs such as ritalin (a class 2 narcotic), which may seem
to “fix” the problem but actually makes the toxicity even worse.10
Environmental illness may be due to a specific chemical exposure
or the result of a build-up of toxins from multiple exposures over
a long period of time. If a child’s body is already overloaded with
toxins, it may take only a minor, low-level exposure to put them
“over the edge” and they begin to show symptoms of illness. According
to Dr. Rapp, “It is not always how much of a substance an individual
is exposed to but how sensitive that particular individual is to
the substance that can cause illness. Sensitivity is what determines
whether someone will develop a health or learning problem. For example,
one heavy exposure to a pesticide can cause a sensitivity to develop,
so that afterward even a minuscule exposure to any chemical in the
future can cause an incapacitating illness.”11
There are no real statistics about the incidence of environmental
illness, since chemical sensitivities are usually unsuspected, disbelieved,
or misdiagnosed. However, according to Dr. Rapp,
physicians practicing environmental medicine conservatively
estimate that at least 25 to 50 percent of the current population
is affected by environmental illness.12
How Children are Exposed
Food
The fruits and vegetables that are so crucial to health are compromised
by ongoing pesticide contamination. If you eat conventional food
you are eating combinations of pesticides known or suspected to
cause brain and nervous system damage, cancer, and disruption of
the endocrine and immune systems. The Environmental Working Group
(EWG), a non-profit research organization, analyzed government pesticide
records and food consumption data and reported that “every day,
610,000 children ages one through five eat a dose of neurotoxic
organophosphate insecticides (OPs) that the government deems unsafe.
Some 6,000 of these children exceed the government’s safe daily
dose of these pesticides by a factor of ten or more. More than half
of the 610,000 children exposed to an unsafe dose of OP insecticides
each day, get that dose by eating an apple, apple sauce or apple
juice. Some apples are so toxic that just one bite can deliver an
unsafe dose of OPs to a child under five.” Another analysis showed
that every day, more than a quarter million American children ages
one through five eat a combination of 20 different pesticides. More
than one million children ages one through five eat at least 15
pesticides on any given day.13
Pesticide levels in food are regulated by the EPA through a system
of standards called food tolerances. This is a legal limit that
the concentration of a pesticide in a particular food must not exceed.
The EPA only looks at the effects of each pesticide in isolation
and fails to recognize the fact that in the real world children
are frequently exposed to many pesticide residues at once. These
tolerances are also based on the typical diet of adults. Children’s
diets are very different from adults, containing much higher quantities
of the foods that contain higher pesticide residues. Certain pesticides,
especially the fat-soluble organochlorine pesticides may be highly
concentrated in breast milk. Processed baby foods also contain pesticides.
Lab tests of eight common baby foods made by the three major baby
food producers revealed 16 different pesticides.14
The “safe” level of pesticide exposure determined by testing adult
animals cannot be assumed to be safe for children. In 1993, the
National Academy of Sciences stated in their report, Pesticides
in the Diets of Infants and Children, that “exposure to neurotoxic
compounds at levels believed to be safe for adults could result
in permanent loss of brain function if it occurred during the prenatal
and early childhood period of brain development”. Very few of the
neurotoxic pesticides used on food have been tested for their effect
on the developing brain.15
The Environmental Working Group ranks fruits and vegetables for
toxic levels of contamination on their website (http://www.foodnews.org)
and in their 1995 report, A Shopper’s
Guide to Pesticides in Produce. They analyzed the results
of 15,000 samples of food tested for pesticides by the FDA during
1992 and 1993. They then ranked 42 fruits and vegetables according
to seven different measures of pesticide contamination. They found
that more than half of the health risks from pesticides in these
42 crops are concentrated in the twelve fruits and vegetables consistently
contaminated with the most, and the most toxic pesticides. If you
are not able to buy all organic food, you can steer clear of these
twelve fruits and vegetables, reduce your child’s (and your own)
health risks from pesticides in food by half, and still eat a diet
rich in fruits and vegetables.16
Water
Significant portions of our groundwater and surface water are now
contaminated with pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and fertilizers,
as well as their metabolites. These contaminants find their way
into groundwater, wells, cisterns, and reservoirs, eventually coming
out in home faucets. A 1995 study tested tap water for weed killers
in cities across the U.S. corn belt and showed that major agricultural
weed killers are routinely found in tap water at levels that exceed
federal health standards. In addition, they found that federal drinking
water monitoring requirements are fundamentally flawed. The authors
of this study reported that “federal drinking water standards:
· Do
not protect the public from extended periods of exposure above the
Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) or Lifetime Health Advisory (LHA);
· Do
not consider the risks of exposure to multiple herbicides simultaneously;
· Do
not explicitly take into account special risks to children;
· Are
based on a flawed methodology that does not adequately protect the
public from cancer risks.”17
A recent analysis of California state data by the Environmental
Working Group found that the tap water of more than one million
Californians is contaminated with a banned pesticide (DBCP) that
is one of the most potent carcinogens known. It causes genetic mutations
and cancer and has been banned in the U.S. for 20 years. The tap
water in 38 water systems in nine counties contains levels of DBCP
well above the levels considered safe by the state.18
As with food residues, the legal standards for most waterborne
contaminants are set based on the health effects of average adults.
Consequently, the health of infants, children, pregnant women and
their fetuses may not be protected. Infants and children drink more
than 2 ½ times as much water as adults in proportion to their body
weight. An infant living solely on formula drinks an amount of water
that corresponds to approximately three gallons of water for a 155-pound
man.19
Air
In addition to exposure from dust and soil, children living in
agricultural areas are exposed to pesticides in the air. Many pesticides
are volatile and can evaporate into the air, causing high levels
of exposure in neighborhoods close to farms. The Environmental Working
Group performed independent air monitoring in eight California counties
and found that toxic pesticides routinely drift from farm fields
into surrounding neighborhoods and schoolyards.20
In a series of reports detailing the results of air monitoring,
the EWG revealed that millions of pounds of methyl bromide (a highly
toxic pesticide scheduled to be banned by 2005) are used near schools
and daycare centers, with airborne levels exceeding safety standards
drifting into suburban neighborhoods. Buffer zones and safety standards
established by the state to protect the public from exposure have
been found to be inadequate.21
Homes
The EPA has ranked indoor air pollution among the top five environmental
risks to public health. According to the EPA, indoor air levels
of many pollutants may be 2-5 times, and sometimes more than 100
times, higher than outdoor levels. A 1990 EPA study detected 32
different pesticides in air samples taken inside and outside homes.
Indoor air had much higher concentrations. They estimated that 85%
of the total daily exposure to airborne pesticides come from breathing
air inside the home. Most products used in homes contain either
organophosphate or carbamate pesticides which are acute nervous
system toxins.
The recommended time periods that people may return to an area
where a pesticide has been used is too short – usually one to two
hours after application. A 1998 study found that chlorpyrifos, a
pesticide known to be toxic to the brain and nervous system, remained
on toys and other surfaces for at least two weeks after application.22
Pesticides persist in household dust, and small children spend a
lot of time on the floor, ingesting soil and dust with their hand-to-mouth
activity. According to a study in the American Journal of Public
Health, concentrations of the pesticide chlorpyrifos (Dursban-used
for treating pets and carpets for fleas) were much higher nearer
the floor in the infant breathing zone than in the more ventilated
adult zone three to seven hours after application. Residues were
also found on the carpet 24 hours after application, and it was
estimated that infants would absorb (mostly through their skin)
10-50 times higher than what the EPA considers a safe exposure for
adults.23 Another form
of exposure is through pets. Insecticides used in flea collars,
shampoos, soaps, sprays, dusts, powders, and dips for pets can expose
kids that play with the animals.24
Lice Treatments
Pesticides used to treat head lice are nerve poisons designed to
interfere with the nervous system of lice. Unfortunately, they can
cause neurological damage to children as well. Lindane, the most
hazardous pesticide used for treating lice, can cause headaches,
vertigo, paresthesia, convulsions, blood disorders, hormone disruption,
liver and kidney damage, and immune dysfunction. Lindane, a possible
carcinogen, is absorbed directly through the skin and can persist
in human tissue. Children in the U.S. have actually died from the
overuse of lindane in treating lice. Nearly 2 million lindane prescriptions
are filled each year in the U.S.25
Schools
Potentially dangerous pesticides are routinely applied in schools.
The residues remain in dust and surfaces like carpets, books, and
plastics. Parents, teachers, or students are not usually warned
before applications of pesticides. The most common pesticides used
in schools are linked to acute health problems such as headaches,
dizziness and muscle cramps as well as long-term problems of cancer
and reproductive harm. Very few school districts have pesticide
policies or programs in place to protect children and teachers.26
Playgrounds
The organochlorine pesticide pentachlorophenol (PCP), a probable
human carcinogen, is a commonly used wood preservative. It is used
on playground structures made from wood. Dioxin, a contaminant of
PCP, has been found to suppress the immune systems of lab animals.
Studies have found that measurable amounts of arsenic and PCP are
dislodged from the structures. When kids climb on and touch the
wood, they can easily absorb the arsenic and PCP through their skin.
Many small children put their hands in their mouths or eat the nearby
contaminated dirt or sand, ingesting the preservatives as well.
Cases of PCP poisoning have been reported in children who spent
a lot of time on playground equipment treated with this chemical.27
Doesn't Our Government Protect our Children?
The safety standards set for adults are meaningless for any real
protection of children, especially with the cumulative, multiple
exposures children receive in all aspects of their lives. Understanding
this, the National Academy of Sciences issued recommendations in
1993 for better protections of children, which resulted in Congress
passing the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) in 1996. This new
law requires that all pesticide tolerances in food be revised to
protect children. It requires a reasonable certainty of no harm
from pesticides to children and infants and requires the EPA to
consider the cumulative risk of multiple exposure from all sources
– food, drinking water, air, indoor use, etc.
However, the testing involved in setting these protections will
be enormous and it will take years before the new standards are
set, if they happen at all. The deadline set for the EPA to evaluate
all pesticide residue limits under the new standard is the year
2006. Babies born now will continue to reap the damage from unsafe
levels of pesticides for at least the next five years - the most
vulnerable developmental and growth years. Even if the EPA puts
a ban on the most dangerous pesticides, they can last in the biosphere
for centuries. And, as we are seeing with a ban on methyl bromide,
even though it has been deemed unsafe and highly dangerous, the
ban has been delayed for yet another five years due to pressure
from the manufacturer and agribusiness. Unfortunately, big business
is a major threat to the Food Quality Protection Act. Chemical manufacturers
and agribusiness groups have enormous financial stakes at risk and
huge resources available to persuade or force the EPA to weaken
or evade the new law.
So What's a Parent To Do?
This information may seem like a lot of doom and gloom and could
cause parents to become overwhelmed. Becoming aware of the extent
of the problem does seem overwhelming, and the tendency to ignore
it could be strong, since it may seem that “there’s nothing we can
do about it anyway”. But awareness is power and there is
quite a lot a parent can do. You can avoid unnecessary exposures
and reduce the overall amount of chemicals your children will intake.
The more environmentally safe you can make your home and food, the
better your children will be able to tolerate unavoidable exposures
outside your home. You can make simple changes that do not have
to be extensive or expensive. It is much easier than you think to
make your home healthier. There are affordable, effective, nontoxic
solutions and alternatives to all our household, lawn and garden
pest problems, cleaning and personal care needs.
The casual, indiscriminate use of chemicals persists in our environment
mostly because of the chemical industry’s deception and desire for
short-term economic rewards. However, this indiscriminate use would
not be able to continue without the widespread ignorance and denial
on the part of consumers. Dangerous chemicals will continue to be
released into our environment, poisoning our children until we refuse
to tolerate it. Chemical companies are a powerful force affecting
the decisions of our government, but we as consumers, have the power
to stop this by shopping for products that are environmentally safe.
Organic Farming
Organic farming methods are sustainable, viable and productive.
The main reason why most farmers do not farm organically is that
they assume it will not be profitable (due to misinformation and
heavy marketing from the chemical companies). If enough of us stop
buying the food grown with hazardous chemicals, we will send a message
to farmers that organic farming is
more profitable. Many farmers are already choosing sustainable methods
of agriculture, making organic food more available and affordable.
They need our consumer support to continue profitably and to be
catalysts for other farmers to change their reliance on pesticides.
Take Action
We all have basic rights to a pure food and water supply, clean
air, and a planet that supports our health and well-being. When
our Mother Earth is depleted and damaged, so are her people. Ultimately,
a universal change in attitude and a comprehensive effort by government,
business, consumers, parents, and farmers is needed to reduce society’s
overall reliance on hazardous pesticides. Until this happens, we
must individually take the steps to protect our children. We are
no longer uninformed, and we must use this knowledge to help create
a different future. We can take action to inform other parents,
contact our government officials, and stop buying products that
are harmful to our environment and the health of our children. There
is much hope for future generations if we all do whatever we can
to make a difference.
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Use the information provided on this site as an educational resource for determining your options and making your own informed choices. It is not intended as medical advice or to diagnose, prescribe, or treat any specific illness.