Sep

6

Toxic Chemicals In Young Children

Posted by Summer M

September 6, 2008 |


Creative Commons License photo credit: fabioperez

Parents are often warned to make sure that their children are wearing fire proof pajamas at night. The fear of a sudden fire happening at night while everyone is sleeping certainly makes parents rush to be more cautious and do everything they can to help protect their children. But could we be also poisoning them at the same time. I found an article suggesting just that today at Foodconsumer.org. Toxic chemicals found 3 times higher in young children than their mothers

Saturday September 5, 2008 (foodconsumer.org) — A study of chemical fire retardants in parents and their children showed toddlers and pre-schoolers had 3 times more the neurotoxic pollutants known as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in their blood than their mothers’.

The study conducted by the Environmental Working Group suggests that U.S. children age 1 to 4 bear the heaviest burden of flame retardant pollution in the industrialized countries.

The study also showed the fire retardant Deca, which has already banned in Europe but still unregulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, was found more often and at higher levels in U.S. children than their mothers.

What this means could be frightening. Of course we want to use any protective measures we can, but at what risk? Could it be that the very things we are being marketed and told to use are causing more harm than good? And why aren’t we more aware of things such as this? Of course it’s not just in the fire retardant pajamas that we buy for our children.

These toxic fire retardants are present in many household items including furniture, sofas, televisions, computers and carpet, all of which could expose children to the pollutants at levels exceeding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s recommended safe level.

The article even shows that breastfed children in the US have 75 times higher amounts of these toxins that children in Europe. Clearly these toxins are able to get into both our and our children’s bodies. Another story on this from Rueters suggests the reson for children having higher levels is that they are children and more likely to touch things, put things in their mouths, and eat and drink more often than adults. And this can be bad, very bad.

The study cited peer-reviewed tests that showed a single dose of PBDEs given to mice on a single day when their brains were growing rapidly can cause permanent behavior changes, including hyperactivity.

And from another story on this at Child Health News there is a bit of worry about how these chemicals may affect boys.

Similarly, a Danish study was conducted in 2007 found that boys with mothers having high levels of fire retardants in their breast milk were more likely to have undescended testicles.


Comments

1 Comment so far

  1. singlemom on September 9, 2008 12:02 pm

    This is a great point to bring up, thank you. You may also want to touch upon the chemicals made in growing what our clothing is made out of.

Name (required)

Email (required)

Website

Speak your mind

<< Post Navigation >>

« « Breastfeeding Eases Infant Pain | Who’s Your Favorite? » »