Young Children and Fetuses at Greatest Risk
Children and fetuses are not simply little adults. They are uniquely vulnerable to health damage from toxic chemicals for many reasons.
- Their organs and physiological processes are still developing. Small exposures can disrupt critical cellular processes, disrupting the development of organs and systems during childhood and causing long-term, irreversible damage.
- Pound per pound, children drink, eat, and breathe more than adults.
- Normal childhood activities including hand-to-mouth behavior and crawling around on the floor increase the risk of exposure to certain chemicals. These and other factors put children and fetuses at greater risk than adults of harm from environmental exposures. Rates of certain kinds of cancer, developmental disabilities, asthma and allergies—all of which have suspected environmental links—are on the rise in children. Our children’s health and environment are at risk of being impaired because of our failure to protect them from common toxic chemicals
