Healthy Child Project

LDA of America's Healthy Children Project

By Kathy Lawson, Coordinator, LDA Healthy Children Project

The Healthy Children Project is here to bridge the gap between our knowledge of environmental factors that impact developing fetuses, the newborn or young children and the actions we are taking to minimize or eliminate those factors.The Healthy Children Project is dedicated to helping you:

Learn more about environmental toxins and how they can adversely effect development and health. Learn exactly what are these toxic substances in the environment and how they might affect our children’s health.Understand possible reasons why the incidence of learning disabilities, developmental disabilities and disease among children is on the rise;

Find out how to join with others to make a difference in protecting the health and future of our children.

The Healthy Children Project is a special undertaking of the Learning Disabilities Association of America which has tens of thousands of members organized into hundreds of local and state chapters in 43 states.

Four active and highly effective affiliates were selected as the pilot sites. They have been amazingly successful. LDA in California, Maine, New York and Washington took a strong lead, advancing the goals of the Healthy Children Project.Each of these four sites has placed its unique fingerprint on the methods by which the goals of the Healthy Children Project are met.An additional fifteen LDA affiliates have indicated a desire to participate in Year II activities. Nine of the fifteen have already made their formal commitment to the Healthy Children Project. They are: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, Oregon, and Texas.Plans include the following activities:

Identify local community stakeholders to build coalitions and work collaboratively to improve environmental health.Present "train-the-trainer" training programs using "In Harm’s Way" as their core resource.Distribute Healthy Children Project display boards and printed materials for use at stakeholders conferences.Create specific sections of their State Affiliate web sites relating to environmental health and preventionSend out monthly outreach e-mails to members.Publish articles in state newsletter.Develop videos which can be shown at State Conferences as well as at various public meetings on various environmental health issues including the effects of maternal hypothyroidism.Support state health policy & legislative efforts and dissemination of legislative/bill information and generate letters of support and consensus statements.Testify at legislative hearings.

Participate in press events.

The Healthy Children Project continues to pursue the objectives of environmental awareness, personal action, and institutional change that will make our world a healthier place, especially for the planet’s greatest resource. For more information, please visit our website: http://www.healthychildrenproject.org/index.html.Working together, we can provide a healthy planet, healthy minds, and a healthy future for our children! How can you help?? Share information from the Healthy Child Project with anyone you feel would benefit. Place in gynecologists’ offices, your family doctor’s office, etc. Help us spread the word and change children’s lives!

Child Development Alert 

Thyroid Testing

Research has shown that the thyroid gland is easily effected by toxins in the environment. Mothers planning a pregnancy should have their thyroid function checked. Hypothyroidism, a condition where the thyroid gland produces too little thyroid hormone can result.

Babies born to mothers with untreated hypothyroidism (low thyroid) are at higher risk of birth defects and intellectual and developmental problems. 

Help us to alert families and doctors about this difficulty by sharing this information so that these developmental difficulties can be prevented.

The symptoms of low thyroid can be easily overlooked. They are feeling tired, sluggish and weak. Weight gain, fluid retention, constipation, rough skin, coarse, dry hair or hair loss may be present. Sensitivity to cold, muscle aches, memory difficulties, irritability, depression and heavier and more frequent menstrual periods may also be experienced. 

See your primary care doctor or gynecologist/obstetrician who may refer you to an endocrinologist for therapy. 

The best test is a simple blood test for TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone). A high TSH result often indicates an underactive thyroid gland. 

Resources: 

THYROID www.thyroid.org http://cpmcnet.columbia.edu/dept/throid 

ENVIRONMENTAL TOXINS & CHILDREN www.healthychildrenproject.org - (Learning Disability Association) Healthy Children Project 

www.ceforhealth.org (Collaborative on Health & Environment) 

www.preventingharm.org (Clean Water Action) 

Mercury Update

FISH and other SEAFOOD can play an important role in a good diet. Because fish are high in protein but low in unhealthy fats, they make a great alternative to red meat. Fish are a good source of vitamins and minerals. They also contain nutrients called omega-3 fatty acids, which can prevent heart disease and may help with healthy brain development.

Why are some fish safer than others?
Pollution that reaches our lakes, streams, rivers, and oceans can end up in the fish caught there. Two common pollutants — mercury and PCBs— are linked to learning and memory problems in children, heart problems, and possibly cancer.Mercury pollution comes from power plant smokestacks, mining, and other industrial activities. When mercury lands in bodies of water, it moves up the food chain from the tiniest fish to the bigger ones that eat them. The older and larger these fish get, the more mercury collects in their flesh.  PCBs are industrial chemicals that are now outlawed but are still present in water and soil. PCBs are found in fatty parts of certain fish.

Are these pollutants a reason to stop eating fish and shellfish?
Not at all. Although some kinds of seafood contain too much mercury and PCBs, others contain very little. By varying the kinds of fish in your diet and following certain guidelines, you can help protect your health and enjoy all the benefits of fish. The advice here is more cautious than federal guidelines because doctors and other healthcare providers believe more protection is needed. 

Who should choose their fish carefully?
Too much mercury and PCBs can cause health problems for anyone. Because they alter the way young brains develop, these pollutants can harm babies and children most of all.Both mercury and PCBs linger in the body and build up over time. They can pass from a pregnant woman or a nursing mother to her baby.  It’s especially important for all children under 15, teenage girls, and women who are pregnant or could get pregnant to avoid eating fish that have high levels of mercury or PCBs.

What About Kids?
Children are often picky eaters who ask for the same foods, meal after meal. Try to get kids hooked on a wide variety of fish and shellfish from the green section of the chart. Children’s portions should be smaller than adults ones. One serving might be 1–2 ounces for a toddler, but 2–3 ounces for an older, larger child.

Shrimp, one favorite with kids, is low in pollutants. Tuna does contain mercury, but levels in canned chunk light tuna are usually low. White or albacore tuna, fresh, and frozen tuna all come from bigger fish with much higher levels of mercury, so children probably should not eat them. Fish sticks and fish sandwiches are typically made from fish that are low in pollutants.

Healthy Fish, Healthy Families

What Fish Choices Make Sense?

Here are general guidelines for women of child-bearing age, children under 15, and teenage girls:

Follow local and state fish advisories, found at www.epa.gov/ostwater/fish/, which tell you when to avoid eating certain fish that you or your friends and family catch.Eat a variety of fish and seafood from the green section of the chart at right — up to 2 servings (6 ounces = one adult serving) each week.If you eat fish or seafood from the yellow section of the chart, eat only 1 serving of fish that week.Limit fatty fish, in the orange section of the chart, to no more than 1–2 servings a month. Fatty fish such as salmon, herring, and sardines are low in mercury but may carry higher levels of PCBs or other pollutants. Wild salmon may be safer than farm-raised.Serve children "chunk light" canned tuna. Canned albacore and fresh tuna, like other fish in the yellow section of the chart, may contain too much mercury for children, even in kid-size portions.Children may eat the same number of servings of low-mercury fish as adults, but limit the size of children’s portions based on their age and weight.

Cooking Salmon and Other Fatty FishPCBs collect in the fatty parts of fish.You can take these steps to reduce PCB risks when cooking salmon, bluefish, and other fatty fish:

Trim away fatty areas such as the belly, top of the back, and dark meat along the side.Remove or puncture the skin before cooking to allow fat to drain off.Broil, grill, roast or steam the fish on a rack to allow fat to drain.Do not fry large, fatty types of fish such as salmon and bluefish.

Throw away fat drippings. Don’t use them in other cooking.

NOTE: These steps will not change the mercury levels in fish.

Where can I find more information?To obtain copies of the complete brochure, or other PSR patient brochures, please call (202) 667-4260.Physicians for Social Responsibility, 1875 Connecticut Ave., NWSuite 1012, Washington, DC 20009.tel: (202) 667-4260fax: (202) 667-4201website:

www.envirohealthaction.org

Chemical Pesticides!

Chemical Pesticides Threaten Children’s Health!

Overwhelmingly, scientists agree that man synthetic pesticides can harm the health of humans, especially children. Enacted in 1996, the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) was the first law to acknowledge that infants and children need extra protection against pesticide exposures. "A toxin has much more devastating effects on a developing nervous system. The child’s brain, because it is still growing, is much more vulnerable than an adult’s brain," says Herbert Needleman, M.D., a professor of pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh Medical School. "And because children play on floors and on the ground, put their hands in their mouths, and eat more fruits and vegetables per pound of body, they receive a greater overall exposure to pesticides."

Many common insecticides, such as DursbanÔ, contain potent neurotoxicants – i.e., they function by disrupting the organism’s nervous system, disabling and transmission of signals to and from the brain. Many studies have revealed clear links between the neurotoxic nature of these pesticides and impacts to the development of a child’s brain. Such impacts can result in learning, behavioral, and developmental disabilities.

Where are pesticides used?

On land: Agricultural crop fields, golf courses, sports fields, playgrounds, roadsides, lawns, etc.

In the Home: professional exterminations, carpet pest treatments, inside schools and community buildings, flea sprays and "dips" for dogs and cats, CCA-treated lumber, etc. On bodies: head lice treatments, bug and tick repellents, etc. On food: sprayed on food during cultivation as well as after harvesting to deter fungal growth prior to shipping.

How can we be exposed?

Hundreds of millions of people worldwide are significantly exposed to pesticides every day through farm and garden use, in residues in air, water, food and within their homes.A World Resources Institute study estimates that only 0.1% of pesticides applied to crops reach the target pest. The rest "drifts," going wherever the wind carries it, contaminating air and water supplies, and poisoning wildlife and accumulating in the bodies of larger organisms. Even more concerning, fetuses and infants are exposed via amniotic fluid and breast milk to the pesticides that enter the mother’s body. To their tiny bodies, the concentrations are far greater than what the mother encounters. These early exposures at vulnerable stages of development can result in life-long neurological and physical impairments.

Our homes may be sources of chronic exposure to pesticides.

According to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sponsored studies, pesticide levels were significantly higher inside residences than outside in both high and low pesticide use areas. Pesticides used indoors, as well as those that enter on people’s clothing, shoes, and in the air, often persist for years because they are not subject to outdoor breakdown factors like rain, sunlight, temperature extremes, and microbial action. Upholstered furniture, carpets, and especially the foam pads underneath carpets work as long-term reservoirs that store pesticides and reintroduce them into the air in dust that can be inhaled. House dust is especially of concern for young children who frequently put hands and toys that may be covered in pesticide-laden dust into their mouths.

What YOU can do to reduce your child’s exposure to pesticides:

Always wash (and peel, where possible) fruits and vegetables. Pesticide residues tend to accumulate in the outermost skins. The pesticide DDT, banned in the U.S. in 1973, has been found in the skins of root vegetables grown more than 20 years later.

Wipe shoes on doormats and leave them at the door. Pesticides and other toxins can be tracked in from outdoors onto the floors where children play. Vacuum regularly with an HEPA filter vacuum. Old vacuums can blow contaminated dust from the carpet out into the air. Dust particles can be inhaled and ingested after settling on food, hands and furniture. Avoid all use of lawn, garden, and household pesticides. Explore least-toxic methods of pest control, such as Integrated Pest Management (IPM). Visit www.beyondpesticides.org for ideas. Prevent household pests naturally by removing sources of food, water, and shelter. Fix leaky plumbing; don’t let water accumulate anywhere such as in sinks or beneath plants; wipe up food residues on countertops; seal pet food containers; keep garbage sealed; rinse recyclable containers; remove woodpiles from around or inside your home; repair door and window screens. Outdoors, remove diseased plants and fallen fruit that may attract pests to your garden. Buy organic produce whenever possible, prioritizing those foods most likely to contain chemical residues, such as peaches, apples, pears, winter squash, green beans, grapes, strawberries, raspberries, spinach, and potatoes. Talk to neighbors, schools, businesses, and city officials about reducing pesticide use. There are safer alternatives for every use of chemical pesticides. Washington State now has "no spray" counties where the Department of Transportation does not spray pesticides on roadsides, and cities like Vancouver, B.C. maintain beautiful grounds without the use of chemicals! Urge your grocer to purchase from organic farmers. Make your consumer voice count in speaking out against the misuse of pesticides.

Check out other resources on alternatives to pesticides, including:

Beyond Pesticideswww.beyondpesticides.orgPesticide Action Network of N. Americawww.panna.orgPhysicians for Social Responsibilitywww.igc.org/psrlNW Coalition for Alternativeswww.pesticide.orgFor more information on neurotoxicants and other threats to children’s health visit the Institute for Children’s Environmental Health at www.iceh.org.

Article by Elise Miller, Executive Director of the Institute for children’s Environmental Health

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