Ø As more toxic chemicals have been introduced to our everyday environment in greater amounts over the last 20 to 30 years, the level of toxins stored in adipose tissues (fat cells) of our bodies have risen. Bioaccumulation studies have shown that some toxins store in our bodies for life. Greater and greater amounts are being stored at younger ages. One study showed that in the fat of 100% of the people tested was 1,4-Dichlorobenzene, a chemical found in most household deodorizers and room fresheners.
Ø Diseases that used to occur later in life are now appearing at younger ages. Diseases that used to be rare are more frequent. For example: There has been a 28% increase in childhood cancer since the addition of pesticides into household products. Cancer is now the #2 killer of children – second only to accidental poisonings. Since 1977 the rate of cancer among American children has been steadily rising at a rate of nearly 1% each year. [Source: National Cancer Institute]
· There is an increased risk for leukemia in children where parents have used pesticides in the home or garden before the child’s birth. [Source: Journal of the National Cancer Institute]
Ø Some products release contaminants into the air right away, others do so gradually over a period of time. Some stay in the air up to a year. These contaminants, found in many household and personal care products can cause dizziness, nausea, allergic reactions, eye/skin/respiratory tract irritations and some cause cancer. [American Lung Association]
Ø Asthma was once a very rare disease. Now the condition is extremely common – the asthma rate has tripled in the last 20 years with nearly 30 million Americans currently afflicted. [Source: Consumer Federation of America , 1997]
Ø In one decade, there has been a 42% increase in asthma (29% for men, 82% for women). The higher rate for women is believed to be due to women’s longer exposure times to household chemicals. [Source: Center for Disease Control]
Ø Childhood asthma has increased by more than 40% since 1980. [Source: Environmental Health Perspectives, June 1997; 105 (6)]
Ø Asthma death in children and young people increased by a dramatic 118% between 1980 and 1993. [Source: Environmental Health Threats to Children, Environmental Protection Agency 175-F-96-001, September 1996]
Ø The average child visits the doctor 23 times in the 1st 4 years of life, with the most common complaint being respiratory ailment. [Source: National Center for Health Statistics, 1997]
Ø Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) in adults and children is also rising – in 1993, 4.5 million children took the drug Ritalin so they could sit still long enough to learn. By 1998, 11.4 million children were being drugged with this powerful Class-2 narcotic. [Source: Your Children and Ritalin, The Detroit news (March 8. 1998)]
Ø Even small doses of neurotoxins, which would be harmless to an adult, can alter a child’s nervous system development. [Source: Environmental Health Perspectives 106 Supplement 3:787-794 (June 1998)]
Developing cells in children’s bodies are more susceptible to damage than adult cells that have completed development, especially for the central nervous system. During the development of a child, from conception through adolescence, there are particular windows of vulnerability to environmental hazards. Most disturbing – until a child is approximately 13 months of age, they are virtually no ability to fight the biological and neurological effects of toxic chemicals. [Source: Herbert L. Needleman, M.D., Philip J. Landrigan, M.D., Raising Children Toxic Free]
Ø Today, children have chemical exposures from birth that their parents didn’t have until they were adults. Because children are exposed to toxics at an earlier age than adults, they have more time to develop environmentally triggered diseases, with long latency periods, such as cancer. [Source: Environmental Policy and Children’s Health, Future of Children, Summer/Fall 1995; 5(2): 34-52]
