Vulnerable Populations

Thousands of industrial chemicals enter our air, food, and drinking water each year. These substances include persistent organic pollutants and heavy metals such as lead and mercury. Pregnant women and their unborn fetuses, children, and rural communities are particularly vulnerable to the harmful effects of toxic chemicals in the environment.

Pregnant Women and Developing Fetuses

Despite the U.S. having one of the most technologically advanced maternity and prenatal health care systems on the planet, adverse birth outcomes are on the rise. Premature delivery, fetal growth retardation, low birth weight, and a variety of congenital abnormalities have increased in the last forty years. The causes are not clearly understood but many scientists are researching the role that chemicals in the environment play in the health and well-being of pregnant women and their unborn fetuses.

Until recently, scientists thought the placenta shielded cord blood and the developing fetus from most chemicals and pollutants in the environment. However, research is showing that even before birth a child is exposed to hundreds of chemicals. Many chemicals are mobilized during pregnancy when the fat reserves of the mother are used, and they subsequently find their way across the placenta to the newly developing fetus. There may be special windows of vulnerability in the development of fetuses when these chemicals can have long-term, irreversible effects on reproductive and neurological systems. 

Children

Infants and children are particularly vulnerable to the adverse health effects of chemicals. They are vulnerable to chemicals that adults can tolerate because their bodies may be unable to process and remove certain toxins. Children also receive proportionately larger doses of environmental toxins than adults because, pound for pound, children eat more food, drink more water, and breathe more air than adults.

From the time of conception to puberty and beyond, children are exposed to thousands of chemicals through household cleaning products, pesticides, plastics, personal care products, and industrial products. Very little is known about the effect of these chemicals on a child's development, but emerging science indicates that some chemicals cause damage to a child's developing brain, while others may cause cancer or mimic or block hormones.

Rural Communities

America has a large rural population of 56.4 million people, of which nine million work in agriculture. Despite federal laws designed to protect farm workers from the effects of pesticide exposures, farm workers and their children continue to be exposed to dangerous toxins at levels higher than the general population.