How does pollution affect children’s health?

Every day, pediatricians diagnose more children with diseases related to environmental factors . Therefore, they demand that information on the place, as well as the environment in which they live, be included in the children’s clinical history in order to assess the environmental risks to which they are exposed and which leads to an increase in respiratory diseases such as asthma or disorders of sexual development .

In order to alleviate this serious situation, the Spanish Association of Pediatrics (AEP) has created an Environmental Health Committee whose objective is to provide health professionals, teachers, and families with the necessary tools for this environment and create a healthy environment for children . The president of the AEP, María José Mellado, emphasizes the concern of pediatricians for the growing problems of contamination. “These complications affect the child population more than others, affecting the physical, that is, their development. Children are exposed more smoke situations, “he says.

Mellado stresses that environmental health is one of the challenges of 21st century society and is especially relevant in childrenbecause they are more vulnerable to their environment, as well as infants and adolescents. From the AEP they emphasize that they do not refer only to environmental toxins, but also to noise, global warming, recreational screens, soil contaminants, drugs, deforestation … “When people hear about the environment, they think about a a city full of pollution or in a forest, but also noise, placing antennas next to a school, a nursery bordering a highway or children do not go out because they are locked playing with mobile phones or computers. This, added to the fact that the adolescent population has the problem of the social risks of their age, such as exposure to the vices of snuff, drugs, alcohol.That is environment, “says the president of the association.

In fact, they estimate that more than two thirds of the child population have their health and life threatened by the environmental risks present in their homes and in the environments where they grow, learn, play, and in less favored areas, where they work . It is estimated that every year around five million children under the age of 14 die as a result of related diseases .

Seven challenges to face the deterioration of the planet

To analyze the impact of these and other factors on the Health of children and adolescents, the AEP proposes the creation of pediatric Environmental Health units in each medical center of each autonomous community , or at least one per community, since there are currently only two in Spain, the Virgen de Arrixaca University Hospital, in Murcia, and the Hospital de Olot y la Garrotxa, in Gerona.

The Committee has set seven fronts against which it is necessary to fight , among which air pollution and soil stand out since, according to Juan Antonio Ortega, coordinator of the Environmental Health Committee of the AEP, they are associated with an increase or exacerbation of many health problems. The seven fronts are:

Pollution in the air and soil

The majority of Spanish municipalities have agricultural soils contaminated by pesticides, nitrates, lead, etc. or they have pockets of important pollution due to the amount of traffic, thermal power stations, industry, old mining … ” Children breathe faster and more air per kilogram of weight than adults , in addition the impact of lower height means greater exposure and vulnerability to atmospheric pollution because many of these substances weigh more than air, “explains Ortega.

Climate change

Because of the threat it poses to the countries of southern Europe and the consequences it has on extreme weather events and the prevalence of diseases . “There has been an increase in heat strokes or hyperthermia in children, as well as an increase in diseases by ticks or mosquitoes,” says the coordinator.

Legal and illegal drugs

The 45 percent of pregnant sucks smoke snuff, cannabis or both substances, and 60 percent of them consume alcohol during pregnancy , which can cause respiratory diseases and neurological disorders and neurocognitive future child. On the other hand, more than 78 percent of adolescents start drinking before age 18, and about a third of these do so binge-eating .

Deforestation and desertification

Loss of the forest mass and the advance of the desert terrain , aggravated by climate change. “This is an important challenge, because children have to play and grow in and with nature; It’s good for your health, “says Ortega.

Fresh water security

Due to the increasing contamination of freshwater reserves and increasingly intense and lasting droughts , this infinite resource is endangered. “Today, many autonomous communities drink desalinated water, they are satisfied that it is drinkable, something that did not happen before,” says Ortega.

Health of the Mediterranean Sea and the oceans

The increasing pollution in the marine bottoms that also affects the fauna, as well as the great extension of the coastal lands that our country has.

Deficit of contact with nature

Children increasingly spend more time locked in virtual reality and do not enjoy free spaces.

Increase in respiratory diseases

The western countries are not safe from these negative consequences either. In fact, both specialists have wanted to emphasize that asthma already affects one in ten children in Spain, doubling its prevalence since 1980 . “Now, children at school with a bronchodilator next to the sandwich when years ago was a very rare disease,” says Mellado.

To this we must add the impact that the consumption of tobacco or cannabis of their parents can have both before the birth and afterwards in their homes . “This leaves a mark on children’s brains,” adds Ortega, who sees “difficult to have smart societies with brains exposed to these substances.”

Connect with nature

Pediatricians warn that Spanish children stay more than 20 hours a day in closed spaces playing with electronic devices, computers, mobile phones, tablets , etc., which favors a sedentary lifestyle. “Children have a deficit of contact with nature, and this ends up affecting their health, children have many friends on social networks like Instagram or Facebook, but none to go out to play football or the street,” says Ortega.

The specialists therefore promote the return to contact with nature to build healthier environments and for children to become aware and create habit from the early stages of life of the importance of growing up in a healthy environment.

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