May 4, 2011
Diseases in children caused by environmental contaminants – many of them preventable – cost an estimated $76.6 billion in 2008, according to a report in today's edition of the journal Health Affairs.
For example, there's the cost of care for children with reduced cognitive abilities due to preventable childhood lead exposure and environmentally caused attention deficit hyperactivity disorder due to toxic chemicals.
There's asthma exacerbated by particulate-matter air pollutants, childhood obesity and its co-morbidities due to endocrine disrupting chemicals found in certain foods, and health consequences of mercury from contaminants in fish, the authors write.
"Federal policy action to limit children's exposure to known chemical hazards has also been extremely limited," wrote Leonardo Trasande, associate professor and assistant attending physician at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Yinghua Liu, associate scientist at the National Children's Study New York-Northern New Jersey Center, both in New York.
"Funding for lead-hazard control programs did not meet (necessary levels) for eliminating childhood lead poisoning by 201. Regulations intended to undermine restrictions on mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants set by the Clean Air Act were overturned by a federal circuit court ruling in 2008."
In a statement, Trasande said that with environmental contaminants "left unchecked, these preventable environmental factors will continue to harm the health of our children and push up healthcare costs. By updating environmental regulations and laws aimed at protecting the public's health, we can reduce the toll taken by such factors on children's health and the economy."
The study updated 1997 research that documented that childhood diseases which are in part or entirely caused by environmental factors cost $54.9 billion to the U.S. economy.
But the cost has grown to $76.6 billion taking in consideration for the value of inflation as of 2008, and also because there are new diseases linked to environmental toxins, such as ADD and exposure to mercury from fish.
The costs due to environmental factors break down as follows:
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The American Academy of Pediatrics is calling for an overhaul of the nation’s chemical management policy, saying the existing system fails to protect children and pregnant women, who are most vulnerable to hazardous chemical exposures.
During the past few decades, according to AAP, tens of thousands of new chemicals have been introduced into the environment — often in large quantities — in toys, personal care products, nail polish, plastics, nonstick cookware and other products.
But the primary federal law that governs chemical management in the U.S., the Toxic Substances Control Act, has not undergone any meaningful revision since it was passed in 1976. Since then, according to AAP, the TSCA has been used to regulate only five chemicals or chemical classes.
In a new policy statement, “Chemical-Management Policy: Prioritizing Children’s Health,” published on the website of Pediatrics before appearing in the May 2011 print issue, the AAP recommends the chemical-management policy be “substantially revised” and take into consideration the consequences for children and their families.
Among other recommendations:
The regulation of chemicals must be based on evidence, but decisions to ban chemicals should be based on reasonable levels of concern rather than demonstrated harm
Any testing of chemicals should include the impact on women and children, including potential effects on reproduction and development
Chemicals should meet safety standards similar to those met by pharmaceuticals or pesticide residues on food
There should be post-marketing surveillance of chemicals, and the Environmental Protection Agency must have the authority to remove a chemical if needed
Federal funding should be provided for research to prevent, identify and evaluate the effects of chemicals on children’s health
Other groups, including the American Medical Association, the American Public Health Association and the American Nurses Association have all independently recommended changes to the TSCA.
ANA previously voiced its support for the Safe Chemicals Act of 2011, which would update the TSCA through steps such as requiring the EPA to identify and restrict especially dangerous chemicals that can persist and build up in the food chain and requiring basic health and safety information for all chemicals as a condition of entering or remaining on the market.
ANA noted that nurses and other healthcare workers are at higher risk for exposure to toxic chemicals and complications that possibly result, such as cancer, reproductive disorders, developmental disorders in children and asthma.
“Nurses are committed to promoting the health, welfare and safety of their patients, and ANA believes the quality of the environment is inexorably linked to the quality of human health," ANA President Karen A. Daley, RN, PhD, FAAN, said in a news release.
“That is why ANA fully supports the Safe Chemicals Act of 2011, and will continue its work with our coalition partners and lawmakers to reduce toxic chemical exposure and other environmental threats to public health