Protecting Children From Toxicants
During brain development, which begins in the fetus and continues into adolescence, a precisely timed sequence of cell division, migration, differentiation, myelination, synapse formation, programmed cell death, and synapse pruning unfolds. Disruption or alteration of this process by chemical exposure or other environmental factors can lead to various outcomes (developmental delays, learning disabilities, attention deficits, etc.), depending on when in development the exposure takes place and its duration (Koger, Schettler, & Weiss, 2005). Read More at http://www.asha.org/Publications/leader/2011/111122/Protecting-Children-From-Toxicants/
In advance of Hurricane Sandy, tens of thousands of parents thought of their child's physical safety. No one was warned by FEMA nor any government agency that a greater threat to child safety would come from exposure to contaminated flood waters, soil, air, and debris. Injury to First Responders, disaster and clean up workers will tell of the permanent damage to their adult bodies. No one will research the damage disaster area contamination has on a child's body. No one will require that hazardous chemical companies protect the community from contamination in the event of a disaster. No one will warn parents that children should not be in potential or actual disaster areas, nor will any government agency warn parents to remove children from disaster area due to increased risk and vulnerability.
During Hurricane Katrina some of the most toxic, deadly, and known cancer-causing substances and environmental substances contaminated the Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama coastline and inland areas, These contaminates included asbestos, dioxin (from the Dow Chemical plant), banned pesticides from home garages and warehouses, industrial toxic waste and products, isocyanate, toluene, and benzyl, mold spores that were inhaled by children, petrol products, pesticides, fertilizers, and many more.
President Barack Obama stood on the Gulf of Mexico beach and demonstrated that his lack of concern for child safety by issuing a "safe for families" advisory in the wake of the BP disaster. The sand Obama stood on had been imported, while the rest of the beaches should contamination. Obama let his family swim in protected bay waters, while proclaiming that the beaches and waters of the Gulf of Mexico were "safe." Obama did not tell that he was neglected adult safety data, that children were much more vulnerable to hazards chemicals than adults, or that there were no safety standards for children to back up his claim that beaches and water were safe for families. Obama's only concern was to improve the Gulf Coast economy, to stimulate tourism, at any cost, even the coast to children's health. But Obama knew, what most do not, that the health effects, including cancer would take decades to present as damage and by then, no one could prove him wrong.
