healthy children for the next generations engaging policymakers in children’s environmental health...
DESCRIPTION
What is “Environmental Health”? “Those aspects of human health, including quality of life, that are determined by physical, chemical, biological, social, and psychosocial factors in the environment”. It also refers to “the theory and practice of assessing, correcting, controlling, and preventing those factors in the environment that can potentially affect adversely the health of present and future generations”. ~ World Health Organization, 2007 New Brunswick Children's Environmental Health CollaborativeTRANSCRIPT
Healthy Children for the Next Generations
Engaging Policymakers in Children’s Environmental Health
Presentation to the NB Commission on Hydraulic Fracturing December 7, 2015
New Brunswick Children's Environmental Health Collaborative
Objectives
Definitions
The burden of disease from environmental hazards
Hazards in children’s environments
Why children are not just little adults.
Children’s health issues related to hydraulic fracturing
Recommendations
New Brunswick Children's Environmental Health Collaborative
What is “Environmental Health”?
“Those aspects of human health, including quality of life, that are determined by physical, chemical, biological, social, and psychosocial factors in the environment”.
It also refers to “the theory and practice of assessing, correcting, controlling, and preventing those factors in the environment that can potentially affect adversely the health of present and future generations”.
~ World Health Organization, 2007
New Brunswick Children's Environmental Health Collaborative
What is “Children’s Environmental
Health”?The scope of “childhood”:developmental stages from conception
through adolescence pre-conception exposures for both
parents Why children?Children are far more vulnerable than
adults.
New Brunswick Children's Environmental Health Collaborative
The Environmental Burden of Disease in Canada
WHO identified significant diseases in adults in Canada with links to environmental hazards
Respiratory diseasesLung cancer, other cancersNeuro-developmental disorders (includes learning disabilities)Cardiovascular diseases
13% of Canada’s total burden of disease is preventable through healthier environments.
*Based on national exposure and WHO Canada statistics
Reference: WHO. Public Health and the Environment. 2009. Country profiles of environmental burden of disease by WHO regions.
New Brunswick Children's Environmental Health Collaborative
The Environmental Burden of Disease in Canada
Boyd and Genuis (2008):
Every year in Canada, there are . . . .
10,000 – 25,000 deaths
78,000 – 194,000 hospitalizations
Up to 1.8 M restricted activity days due to asthma
500-2500 low birth weight babies
8,000 – 24,000 new cases of cancer
An estimated 2% - 10% of congenital anomalies*
. . . attributable to environmental factors.New Brunswick Children's Environmental Health Collaborative
The Environmental Burden of Disease in Canada
Boyd and Genuis (2008): Annually in Canada, there are between $3.6 and $9.1 Billion due to:
respiratory disease cardiovascular disease cancer and congenital affliction . . . that are associated with adverse environmental
exposures.
New Brunswick Children's Environmental Health Collaborative
Chemicals in our BodiesOver 80,000 chemicals
have been produced since the mid 1950s.
Over 80% have never been tested for safety to human health.
New Brunswick Children's Environmental Health Collaborative
• Our “body burden” of chemicals – found in adult blood, breast milk and infant cord blood.
• 2005 study found average of 200 industrial chemicals in infant cord blood. Many studies over the last decade confirm that there is nowhere on earth where the blood of infants is free of industrial chemicals.
Children’s Exposures are Proportionally Far Greater Than Adults’
Adult’s Exposure Pathways
Air
Water
Soil
Food
Consumer
Products
Child’s Exposure Pathways
Air
Water
Soil
Food
Consumer products, such as toys, children’s jewelry, carpets, floor surfaces, etc.
+
Placenta
Breast milk
New Brunswick Children's Environmental Health Collaborative
New Brunswick Children's Environmental Health Collaborative
Children’s Exposures are Greater . . . Continued
body mass (kg for kg of body weight, a child will drink more water, eat more food and breathe more air than an adult)
physiology (e.g., breathing is more rapid, ability to metabolize and excrete contaminants is less developed than in adults)
behaviours (children tend to be more active, explore their environment orally, and play lower to the ground where contaminants settle)
Critical Windows of VulnerabilitySource: Stages of Human Development (courtesy of Dr Jerrold Heindel, US National Institute of
Environmental Health Sciences)
New Paradigm for Toxicology
“In early development, the timing makes the poison.”
Figure originally from Moore & Persaud, 1998
New Brunswick Children's Environmental Health Collaborative
New Brunswick Focus
AsthmaLearning Disabilities/
Neurodevelopmental EffectsObesity/DiabetesAdverse Reproductive Outcomes
New Brunswick Children's Environmental Health Collaborative
Health Impacts on Children from Chemicals
Used in Hydraulic Fracturing
Acute and chronic health problems in children and pregnant women, including respiratory, neurological, reproductive, and developmental impacts. ~US Center for Environmental Health
Exposing children to chemicals related to shale gas development affects development over time, from pre-conception in utero infancy early childhood to full maturity in late teen years. ~US Center for Environmental Health
What We Know For Sure
Canada, a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, is obligated to protect children’s health.
Most adverse environmental exposures are
preventable through stronger public
policy, technological change and changing
our behaviour. ~ Boyd and Genuis, 2008
New Brunswick Children's Environmental Health Collaborative
Recommendations to Government
Continue the moratorium on shale gas development until human and ecological safety can be assured.
Recognize that protecting environments in order to protect children’s health is a collective responsibility of society.
Implement the Recommendations of the NB Chief Medical Officer of Health concerning shale gas development, 2012.
Support the proposed Bill of Rights to protect the health of children from environmental harm.
New Brunswick Children's Environmental Health Collaborative
Contact InfoBonnie Hamilton Bogart, Team Lead for “Team Policy” of the New Brunswick Children’s Environmental Health Collaborative (NB CEH Collaborative) [email protected]
NB Children’s Environmental Health Collaborative: http://www.nben.ca/index.php/en/groups-in-action/working-together/new-brunswick-children-s-environmental-health-collaborative
New Brunswick Environmental Health Network: http://www.nben.ca
Proposed NB Bill of Rights to Protect Children’s Health from Environmental Hazards: FB: http://on.fb.me/1nCxAbm Website: http://nben.ca/childrens-rights