How can the environment affect children’s health?

Many types of environmental exposures are more harmful for children than for adults. There are many reasons for this:

Relative to their body weight, children eat, breathe, and drink more than adults do. So children take in higher concentrations of any toxins in their food, water, or air.
As organs develop, they are more likely to be damaged by exposure to toxins.
The ways that toxins are removed from the body are not fully developed in children.
Children spend more time outdoors, where they may be exposed to outdoor air pollution and ultraviolet radiation.
Children do more intense physical activity, causing them to breathe air pollutants more deeply into their lungs.
Young children tend to put their hands, dirt, or objects into their mouths.

Source: Office on Women’s Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Posted on January 18, 2010 at 8:45 pm by admin · Permalink
In: Air Pollution Effects · Tagged with: children’s health, environment

Air Pollution Causes, Effects & Solutions