1 / 25

Our Stake in Promoting Healthy Environments Where Children Live, Learn and Play

Maryann Suero, PhD US Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 (IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, WI) Suero.maryann@epa.gov 312-886-9077. Our Stake in Promoting Healthy Environments Where Children Live, Learn and Play.

jerrod
Download Presentation

Our Stake in Promoting Healthy Environments Where Children Live, Learn and Play

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Maryann Suero, PhD US Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 (IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, WI) Suero.maryann@epa.gov 312-886-9077 Our Stake in Promoting Healthy Environments Where Children Live, Learn and Play Disclaimer: Information provided here does not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the USEPA. Mention of trade names or commercial products or the inclusion of web links to non-USEPA sites does not constitute USEPA endorsement or recommendation.

  2. What do you think about when you hear the word “Environment?”

  3. Did Your View of “Environment” Include a Person? • Yes • No

  4. Environment????

  5. Environment!!!!!

  6. Our Environment Opportunity

  7. Objectives: To learn about • How and why children are more susceptible to environmental exposures than adults • Why individuals / institutions should take steps to protect children from environmental hazards

  8. Putting Things into Context

  9. What’s the difference? Toxicity Exposure How much? How bad? TIMING Susceptibility Lifestage RISK

  10. Safe Unsafe

  11. Safe Unsafe

  12. A Child’s Environment Is All Around Them • Eating • Drinking • Breathing • Touching

  13. Windows of Vulnerability in Development Differences in Physiology Differences in Behaviors Children Are Not Little Adults Children’s Increased Vulnerability

  14. Exposure Differences : PhysiologyIncreased Exposures Relative to Adults • Pound for pound, kids • breathe more air than adults • drink more water than adults • eat more food than adults • have increased surface area to body mass ratio relative to adults • May also have different metabolism routes, speeds due to enzyme availability or activity

  15. How many twelve ounce drinks/day would an adult male need to consume in order to take in proportionately as much as an infant? • 5 • 10 • 20 • 35 • 50

  16. Exposure Differences : BehaviorsIncreased Exposures Relative to Adults • Closer to the ground • Diet and eating habits differ • Newborns - breast milk or formula • Infants / Toddlers - more fruit and milk products • “Fussy Eaters” abound • “Grazing” is common

  17. How many times more apples does an average child eat compared to an adult, not accounting for child’s smaller size? • 3 • 7 • 11 • 15 • Adults eat more apples than children

  18. Exposure Differences : BehaviorsIncreased Exposures Relative to Adults • Engage in more potentially high-risk behavior • increased hand contact with “stuff” • increased mouthing behaviors • more time spent outdoors

  19. Why We Care: Indoor / Outdoor Environmental Pollutants • Can lead to neurodevelopmental disabilities, e.g. Mental retardation, ADHD, Poor Impulse Control • Can cause or worsen respiratory diseases • Can increase risk of cancer • Can affect hormone systems • Implicated in adult diseases • May affect multiple generations

  20. Environmentally Attributed Childhood Healthcare Costs Trasande, L. and Liu, Y., Health Affairs, 2011, 39, http://dx.doi.org/10.1377/hlthf.2010.1239

  21. 80 40 60 100 120 140 160 70 130 The Significance of Small Effects: Effects of a Small Shift in IQ Distribution in a Population of 300 Million mean 100 6.9 million 6.9 million “developmental disability" "gifted" I.Q.

  22. 40 80 100 120 140 160 60 70 130 The Significance of Small Effects: 5 Point Decrease in Mean IQ mean 95 57% INCREASE 2.4 million 9.4 million "gifted" “developmental disability" I.Q.

  23. Estrogenic agents and obesity Healthcare costs due to Obesity ~ $190 Billion / year. If only 1% attributable to environmental exposures, accounts for nearly $2 Billion

  24. Region 5 Center for Children’s Environmental Health866-967-7337, 312-864-5526 • Co-funded by EPA and ATSDR • Serves as a Regional resource to: • evaluate, treat and prevent environmental illness in children • train pediatricians and others in environmental health issues • promote children’s environmental health in communities

  25. Framework for Rest of Today’s Sessions • Children are more susceptible to environmental exposures than adults • Indoor environments account for large % of childhood exposures • Individual / Institutional opportunities to reduce • Toxicity • Exposure Be Open to New Ideas / New Approaches!

More Related