Chronic diseases are the main cause of illness and death for children in the U.S. and Europe, and exposure to chemicals is driving the epidemic, according to a paper published today in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The authors — 25 scientists, economists and legal scholars representing 17 U.S. and European Union (EU) institutions — called for new laws and regulations governing chemicals that, according to their data analyses, are largely responsible for the chronic disease epidemic in children.
“An estimated 350,000 manufactured chemicals, chemical mixtures, and plastics” listed in global inventories are “subject to few legal or policy constraints,” the paper stated.
Less than 20% of these chemicals were tested for toxicity, particularly in infants and children.
Production of these chemicals has increased 50-fold since 1950 and is projected to triple from current levels by 2050, according to the authors, who published their collective work under the Consortium for Children’s Environmental Health.
According to the paper:
“Unlike pharmaceuticals, synthetic chemicals are brought to market with little prior assessment of their health impacts and almost no post-marketing surveillance for longer-term adverse health effects. …
“A large body of evidence links multiple pediatric NCDs [non-communicable diseases] to synthetic chemicals …
“Two key lessons emerged from these cases: toxic chemicals can cross the placenta, and children are far more vulnerable to toxic chemicals than adults.”
Non-communicable diseases are the principal causes of illness and death in children today and their incidence and prevalence are on the rise, the paper stated.
The paper cited data indicating that in the last 50 years, there have been significant increases in cancer rates, autism diagnoses and neurodevelopmental disorders, reproductive defects, obesity, asthma and other health conditions in children.
Associations between widely used chemicals and disease in children “continue to be discovered with distressing frequency,’ and it is likely that there are “additional, still unknown” links, the paper said.
“Children’s Health Defense (CHD) has worked to end the childhood chronic disease epidemic for nearly two decades,” said CHD CEO Mary Holland. “Kudos to this team of scientists for documenting the connection between chemicals and childhood disease and for joining the call to protect children from toxic exposures. There is no more important work than protecting today’s and future generations of children.”
Hellbound and Down 