Infants & Children

More growth and development takes place in a baby’s first year than at any other time. Early childhood is also an important period of development. The early years are a critical time to provide good nutrition and a healthy environment.

• Chemicals in secondhand smoke are very damaging to a young child’s health. They have been linked to increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome, middle ear infections, lower respiratory tract illness, prevalence of wheeze and cough and worsening asthma.

• Once children can crawl, they are exposed to floor dust that may contain lead, flame retardants or other substances that may harm brain development.

• When it comes to eating, children are not just little adults. Health impacts from food contaminants such as pesticides or heavy metals can be greater because children consume more food per pound of body weight than adults and because childhood is such a vulnerable time of development.

• Children may also be exposed to pesticides and harmful cleaners at school.

Resources

Canada’s Partnership for Children’s Health and Environment Child Health and the Environment – A Primer

Children’s Environmental Health Network: Pediatric Environmental Health Training Manual

Collaborative on Health and the Environment’s Asthma and the Environment Peer-Reviewed Analysis

Collaborative on Health and the Environment’s Autism and the Environment Peer-Reviewed Analysis

Collaborative on Health and the Environment’s Developmental Disabilities Peer-Reviewed Analysis

Environmental Working Group’s Autism report

Institute for Children’s Environmental Health Children’s Environmental Health Basics

Institute for Children’s Environmental Health Children’s Environmental Health Factsheet

Lowell Center for Sustainable Production Toxic Chemicals and Childhod Cancer: A Review of the Evidence

National Environmental Trust’s Toxic Beginnings: A Lifetime of Exposure in the First Year report

Physicians for Social Responsibility’s Healthy Environment Healthy Child Environmental Health Reference Card

Physicians for Social Responsibility’s In Harm’s Way: Toxic Threats to Childhood Development factsheet

Physicians for Social Responsibility’s Out of Harm’s Way: Creating a Healthy Environment for Your Child’s Development report

Physicians for Social Responsibility’s Pediatric Environmental Health Toolkit

Playing it Safe Strategies Manual

Raising Healthy Children in a Toxic World

Towards Healthy Environments for Children