CHILDREN

Those who observe children most closely know that something seems to be wrong with their behavior and thought processes. Mothers in Mexico, Nairobi, and Venezuela, and physicians in Northern India all report to anthropologists that something is going on in children who are exposed to environmental pollutants. Dr. Elizabeth Guillette said, "I'm not the only one who's scared about what's happening to our children as a result of contamination to these toxic chemicals or compounds. Contamination is now global. No one is safe. What is happening with wildlife is what's happening with people."

It seems that infants and children, up to the age of puberty, are more at risk for adverse affects from hormone disruptors. This is because:
  • Children's brains are still developing.
  • Children's bodies are still growing.
  • Children, especially infants and toddlers, put more contaminants into their mouths.
  • Children are exposed to more toxic substances than adults. Chemicals do go a long way in a small body. When the National Academy of Sciences studied pesticides and children's health in 1993, it concluded: "In the absence of data to the contrary, there should be a presumption of greater toxicity to infants and children."

A sample of what can happen:

Middle ear infections are a chronic problem for millions of children. One possible explanation is that PCBs and dioxins are structurally similar to thyroid hormones and thyroid disruption may affect the development of the auditory system in the fetus. This could be a contributing factor in the rise in childhood ear infections and the undetected hearing problems that play a role in certain learning disabilities.

Hypospadias – an abnormality of development of the penis and urethra in young boys – has been increasing by at least 2% a year.
Not just children who live in rural agriculture areas are exposed to pesticides. Half the pesticide use in the U.S. is in urban areas.

Early Puberty Girls are going through puberty and menstruation earlier than every before. When a young girl menstruates at ten, she doesn't ovulate. Since ovulation stimulates the production of progesterone, early puberty is a situation that results in unopposed estrogen, adding to a girl's body burden of estrogen and her increased risk of estrogen-dependent illnesses. Early puberty in both sexes may also lead to adolescent behavior problems and may be a contributing factor the rise we are seeing in school violence.

Behavior, hyperactivity, and IQ problems
New fields of study, called behavioral toxicology and teratology (the study of behavioral defects due to exposures during pregnancy), investigate how exposure to neurotoxicants such as heavy metals, solvents and pesticides affect learning, memory, and behavior in humans and animals. If the neurons and neurotransmitters in the brain are seen as the "hardware" of the brain, then the "software" consists of our learning and memories, which have traditionally been the domain of psychiatrists and psychologists. A number of these new researchers are psychologists who are looking at the ways in which endocrine disruptors affect how our children think and act!


Adverse reactions to stress Dr. Lonky and others studied the children born to 243 mothers who had eaten varying amounts of fish from Lake Ontario. Even with low levels of fish consumption, infants exposed to the highest levels of contaminants scored significantly more poorly on behavior tests than infants exposed to lower levels.
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