|
|
The AAP supports federal efforts to:
* Reduce and remove hazardous substances from the environment
* Increase public education and research regarding environmental health issues
* Children of parents who smoke have more respiratory infections, bronchitis, pneumonia and reduced lung function than children of nonsmokers.
* The AAP supports legislation that would prohibit smoking in public places frequented by children.
* The AAP message is clear: If you smoke, quit-if you can't quit, don't smoke around
children.
* The well documented nutritional benefits of fruits and vegetables outweigh the potential risks from pesticides. * The longstanding position of the AAP is that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables is the most healthful that children can consume.
Lead causes serious impairments to children at relatively low levels of exposure the effects of which are largely irreversible.
The AAP supports:
* Broad-based, routine lead screening of children
* Restored funding for a national program to screen for lead, and to remove lead hazards from the environment
* Between 3 and 4 million children in the U.S. under age 6 have levels of lead in their blood that could cause adverse health effects, including lowered intelligence and shortened attention spans.
* Lead-based paint is the most common source of high doses of lead exposure for preschool children. About 74% of privately owned, occupied housing units in the U.S. built before 1980 contain lead-based paint.
* Pediatricians believe that the most effective way to prevent lead poisoning is to remove lead from children's environment.
* Studies show that levels of lead previously considered harmless can impair a child's central nervous system, resulting in delayed cognitive development, reduced IQ scores, slowed growth and impaired hearing.
|
First created December 23, 1997 Last Updated January 08, 2004
