Toxins to the brain and nervous system, such as mercury and PCBS, contaminate tuna and other fish, including many Minnesota sport fish. Air pollutants like exhaust from diesel trucks and buses exacerbate children's asthma and bronchitis. Pesticide residues are widely found in some of children's favorite foods and in many drinking water systems. And pesticides — designed to kill — are regularly applied around homes and in schools.
The Minnesota Legislature is considering two bills that would help protect children from these toxins. SF2441, introduced by Sen. Ellen Anderson, would direct the Minnesota Department of Health to use children as the standard in risk assessment. HF2520, sponsored by Rep. Jean Wagenius, would give parents the right to know when pesticides are used at their children's schools.
In its landmark 1993 report, "Pesticides in the Diets of Infants and Children," the National Academy of Sciences found that children are uniquely vulnerable to environmental toxins. Pound for pound, children eat and drink more, and breathe more air than adults, so their exposures to pesticides in contaminated food, water and air can be several–fold higher.
Children's immature bodies metabolize, detoxify and excrete chemicals differently. Their brains, immune, endocrine and reproductive systems continue to grow and develop from conception to adolescence.
These delicate developmental processes are susceptible to disruption. If they are interrupted, pushed even slightly off course by exposure to toxins in the womb, during infancy and early childhood, lifelong consequences can result. Thus, children and pregnant women are at risk from chemical exposures at levels that would be safer for mature adults.
Studies in both humans and animals suggest that these low–level exposures to the young can cause subtle, but permanent damage to the brain, reproductive, immune or other organ systems that may not be apparent until later in life.
Because nearly all chemicals, including pesticides, are produced and marketed with very little testing for possible ill effects on the child's body or brain public health argues that we should exercise caution before exposing children to these chemicals.
Better Safe ...
That's why the National Academy of Sciences concluded in 1993 that in the absence of scientific data to the contrary, there should be a presumption of greater toxicity to children. Its basic message for protecting children: Better safe than sorry.
Children depend on a healthy, intact brain and nervous system to learn and become productive adults. Critical stages of brain development occurring during the first few years of life include brain cell growth, formation of connections between brain cells, and pruning of connections to assure optimal brain function.
Yet the academy found in 1993 that exposure to neurotoxic compounds at levels believed to be safe for adults could result in permanent loss of brain function if it occurred before birth or in early childhood.
Organophosphate insecticides, which are specifically designed to disrupt the nervous system, are widely used in and around homes and schools. In studies of very young rodents, exposure to even low levels of Dursban, the most commonly used organophosphate, leads to a drop in the synthesis of DNA, and a loss of cells in certain regions of the brain.
Dursban is regularly used around Minnesota schools.
Further, a child's immature immune system may be less able to catch and kill abnormal, cancerous cells. Only two of the nearly 80,000 industrial chemicals on the market, have been directly tested for their effects on the immune system. Children also depend on an intact endocrine system, made up of glands and the hormones they produce, such as estrogens, androgens and thyroid hormones.
Many chemicals, including some pesticides, can disrupt normal function of this system by mimicking or antagonizing natural hormones, even at very small doses. Because the endocrine system is still developing in the fetus, in infants and even in adolescents, children may be particularly vulnerable to these effects.
The key to protecting our children is preventing environmental exposure to toxins. For physicians, the Hippocratic Oath promises no less: "First, do no harm." Parents, schools and public officials must also do their part. A large responsibility lies with our elected officials who must join the effort and take a leadership role in protecting the health of our children.
The Minnesota Legislature can do its part by passing HF2520, which will notify parents when toxic chemicals are to be used at their children's school so they can help reduce unnecessary exposures; and SF2441, which directs the Minnesota Department of Health to use children as the standard for risk setting and regulation.
The National Academy of Sciences, and the most up–to–date science on children's unique physiology, behavior and susceptibility, suggest this is a sound idea whose time has come. It is an ounce of prevention our children deserve.
Minnesota's children have a right to healthy schools and healthy communities. It is up to us to protect it.
— Dr. David Wallinga, a Roseville native, is senior scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council. Susan Berkson, Minnetonka, is metro coordinator for the Minnesota Children's Health Environmental Coalition.
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