How can the environment affect children’s health? 0
Posted on
January 18, 2010 by
admin
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.