Tiny Bodies Are Especially Vulnerable To Chemicals Menace: Chemical Output Exceeds 6 Trillion Pounds Yearly.

Earth Day and Easter both occur in the season of birth and renewal. Both remind us of our responsibility as stewards of God’s creation.

Christianity and environmentalism, alike, teach that if we nurture the Earth, it will sustain us, and they warn against placing our material satisfaction ahead of nature’s needs. Unfortunately, recent evidence shows we are slowly poisoning not only our ecosystems and wildlife but also our own species. Nowhere is our duty toward the health of the planet and its inhabitants more apparent than with our children.

In the past 20 years, pediatricians have shifted their attention from curing childhood infections to treating complex, chronic conditions, often of unknown origin: asthma, rare cancers, learning and behavior problems, failures of the immune system. Since the early 1980s, lymphatic leukemia in children has increased over 10 percent and the number of brain tumors has grown by 30 percent.

More and more youngsters are being diagnosed with learning and behavioral disorders. Scientific research on a number of fronts points to pollution in the environment from toxic chemicals as a key factor in these conditions.

Chemicals pose a tremendous dilemma. Our ingenuity for increasing food production, making remarkable new materials and raising manufacturing output also imposes a heavy moral burden. Today, there are more than 70,000 separate compounds in use and annual output exceeds 6 trillion pounds - the equivalent of more than 10 tons of chemicals for every man, woman and child in America.

This chemical soup particularly endangers unborn children and toddlers. As people of faith, we have a special obligation to protect those who are most vulnerable.

We once assumed the womb was inviolable. Now we know that chemicals can pass from mother to fetus, damaging the brain and central nervous system and altering the immune and reproductive systems. Synthetic substances may play a role in the alarming number of miscarriages and birth defects. Each year, 500,000 babies are lost in early miscarriages and another 24,000 die in late miscarriages and stillbirths. A quarter of a million infants enter the world with birth defects.

Toddlers, too, need special protection from chemicals in the environment. Their tiny bodies lack the full adult ability to defend against harmful substances. Compared with an adult’s body weight, children may drink the equivalent of a gallon of milk or juice in a day or eat five apples. Besides their proportionally high food intake, they actually breathe more air than adults because of their physical activity.

Finally, small children crawl and constantly put their hands in their mouths, increasing their exposure to pesticides and other harmful chemicals at ground level.

Today, more than 1,500 different chemical agents are blended together to make more than 60,000 commercial pesticide products of varying toxicity. Trace amounts of these compounds are in the food children eat, and repeated exposures accumulate in their bodies.

A serious risk arises because “safe” toxicity levels and food residue amounts have been based on standards for male adults weighing 10 to 15 times more than an infant.

To reduce the danger to youngsters caused by environmental chemicals in food, Congress unanimously passed the Food Quality Protection Act in 1996, directing the Environmental Protection Agency to consider the risks of neurological damage to children from exposure to certain compounds and, if necessary, ban their use.

Since then, the EPA has begun screening suspected chemicals. It also has asked a panel of scientists to develop tests to identify substances that may disrupt the hormone system of humans.

In this season of rebirth and deliverance, we should take inspiration from the concept of “shalom,” expressing the Bible’s vision of one community embracing all creation. Shalom means peace, but it also signifies health and wholeness.

As we witness God’s restoration of nature this spring, let us find the will on Earth Day - and the other 364 days of the year - to care for the planet and to cherish the gift of life symbolized by our children.

For opposing view see headline: Environment-caused cancer fear is EPA’s meal ticket