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UNITED
NATIONS, July 29: A new report by the
World Health Organisation says that environmental
hazards are responsible for the deaths of several
million children every year.
The report, titled Principles for Evaluating
Health Risks in Children Associated with Exposure
to Chemicals, highlights the fact that in children,
the stage in their development when exposure occurs
may be just as important as the magnitude of the
exposure.
It’s WHO’s first ever report focusing
on children’s special susceptibility to
harmful chemical exposures at different periods
of their growth.“Children are not just small
adults,” said Dr Terri Damstra, the Geneva-based
WHO’s team leader for the Interregional
Research Unit.
“Children are especially vulnerable and
respond differently from adults when exposed to
environmental factors - and this response may
differ according to the different periods of development
they are going through.”
According to the expert, children’s lungs
are not fully developed at birth, or even at the
age of eight, and lung maturation may be altered
by air pollutants that induce acute respiratory
effects in childhood and may be the origin of
chronic respiratory disease later in life.
The report points out that air and water contaminants,
pesticides in food, lead in soil, as well many
other environmental threats which alter the delicate
organism of a growing child may cause or worsen
disease and induce developmental problems.
Over 30 per cent of the global burden of disease
in children can be attributed to environmental
factors, the report says.
According to the report, the vulnerability of
children is increased in degraded and poor environments.
Neglected and malnourished children suffer the
most.
One in five children in the poorest parts of
the world will not live longer than their fifth
birthday - mainly because of environment-related
diseases.—APP
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