ScienceDaily, May 1,
2012 - The United States government would get
a better bang for its health-care buck in managing the country's
most prevalent childhood disabilities if it invested more in
eliminating socio-environmental risk factors than in developing
medicines.
That's the key conclusion of Prevention of Disability in
Children: Elevating the Role of Environment, a new paper
co-authored by a Simon Fraser University researcher. The paper is
in the May issue of the Future of the Children journal,
which is produced by the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and
International Affairs at Princeton University and the Brookings
Institution.
"Our conclusions may sound obvious or benign, but they may also
be viewed as medical heresy," says Bruce Lanphear, the study's SFU
co-author. The health scientist was also involved in studies
showing that there is no safe level of lead exposure for
children.
"Most of us are convinced that we will
solve our health care problems by investing in genetic research,
stem cell research and drugs. But, with the exception of vaccines
and antibiotics, the best that can be achieved by clinical
intervention is enhanced treatment or early detection. It will not
prevent disease."
Citing an American economic analysis of environmental hazards,
the authors note that the cost of disease from exposure to
pollutants linked with asthma, cancer and neurobehavioral disorders
in a single year is $76 billion.
Another study "estimated a total potential net savings from the
elimination of lead hazards, of $118 billion to $269 billion."
Referencing numerous studies, the authors track how declining
infections and rising prenatal and childhood exposure to
environmental toxins is "shifting the burden of illness among
children and adults from infectious to chronic diseases."
Even so-called safe levels of toxins are now linked to chronic
diseases.
As examples of rising incidents of childhood disabilities
resulting from exposure to a wide range of environmental
contaminants, including junk food and tobacco, the authors cite the
following:
"…the number of children diagnosed with an activity limitation
stemming from a chronic health condition rose from 1.8 per cent in
1960 to 7.3 per cent in 2006, while the prevalence of diagnosed
developmental disabilities rose from 12.8 per cent in 1997-99 to 15
per cent in 2006-08."
Toxins, such as airborne pollutants, lead, tobacco, mercury,
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), as well as suspected ones, such
as organophosphate pesticides and bisphenol A, are combining to
increase the incidence of prevalent childhood disabilities.
Asthma, obesity, mental illness and neuro-behavioural problems,
such as ADHD and autism, are among these disabilities.
Asked how much this portrait of American childhood disability
linked to environmental contamination is representative of Canada,
Lanphear says: "The levels of exposures to airborne pollutants,
lead, BPA and other chemicals are comparable or slightly lower in
Canada than the U.S.
"Canada's surveillance for these neurodevelopmental disabilities
is too insufficient to say anything about their national prevalence
or whether the incidence of ADHD and autism is increasing. But the
overall pattern for these disabilities is quite similar in
Canada."
That being said, the authors recommend using Vancouver, British
Columbia as a model for creating healthy cities of the future.
"We have low levels of air pollution for a large city," says
Lanphear. "We also have low smoking rates, few highways that
fragment the city, which encourages exercise, low levels of lead
and a closed water system with pristine land to collect water. Our
government leaders are also strongly committed to making Vancouver
the greenest city in the world by 2010. Although there is much to
do, it gives me great comfort to raise a family in Vancouver."
Simon Fraser University (2012, May 1). Environment key to
preventing childhood disabilities. ScienceDaily.
Retrieved May 2, 2012, from
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120501162704.htm