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California Progress Report
Posted on August 17, 2009
Embracing the Precautionary Principle
by Robina Suwol
Founder & Executive Director of California Safe Schools
One might think that when it comes to toxins and children, our government would take a precautionary approach, responding to early signs of harm. The European Union operates using a precautionary framework. But, we, in the United States do not.
We operate under a "prove harm" approach, in which science must prove beyond a shadow of a doubt a cause-and-effect relationship between a chemical and harm to necessitate regulatory action. Meanwhile, the health of our children rests in the balance.
Crazy, right?
Children
absorb more toxins relative to body weight than adults, and
their developing brains, organs, nervous systems and immune
systems may be more vulnerable to toxins. Studies increasingly
show how toxic chemicals harm the body even at low doses, as in
parts per trillion, and the more often a child is exposed to
chemicals, the greater the chance of harm. Government
regulations and manufacturers of synthetic chemicals, however,
determine exposure-threshold levels based on a healthy adult
male who weighs 160 pounds.
As rates of
childhood cancer, asthma, neurological disorders, endocrine and
hormonal disorders and birth defects increase,
environmental-justice advocates recognize there is no better
time than now to protect our children's health.
Adults have
an obligation to protect children from toxins. The U.S. Toxic
Substances Control Act lists about 75,000 chemicals currently in
use. Our country produces or imports 42 billion pounds of
chemicals daily and global production is expected to double
every 25 years. Not all toxic chemicals are obvious, though, as
many are odorless and colorless, making our ability to protect
children even more challenging.
Children
spend nearly one-third of their lives at school—what should be a
safe space for learning and growing. However, with the best
intentions, many school districts use large amounts of chemicals
with serious health concerns, instead of opting for lower-risk
alternative methods. Pesticides regularly applied on school
grounds and in classrooms off-gas into the air kids breathe and
seep into the grass where they play. Ingredients in some
pesticides have been linked to cancer, respiratory illness and
attention-deficit disorder.
While
exposure to toxic chemicals threatens all children, those living
in less-affluent neighborhoods face a greater threat because of
more air pollution from nearby industry and manufacturing
plants, lead exposure from lead-based paint in older housing,
and other factors associated with unjust social-economic
factors. Worse, many of these children lack health insurance or
adequate medical care.
We must
eliminate the widespread use of toxic chemicals. Science
supports us and policies increasingly support us—of course, more
work is needed here—and we must ensure that adopted practices
meet the spirit and intent of eliminating our reliance on toxic
chemicals. We must refuse to become partners in "greenwashing"
and creating standards or practices that mislead, and fall short
of addressing public concern, expectation and protection,
especially, when the outcome impacts the health of future
generations.
California
Safe Schools believes children and adults have a right to learn,
work and live in a healthy environment. Current limitations of
our regulatory system—dependent on risk-assessment approaches
that fail to address key issues of chemical mixtures, cumulative
impacts and synergistic effects—cry out for the need for
programs, policies and legislation built on the concept of
precaution.
Robina
Suwol is the Founder and Executive Director of California Safe
Schools (CSS), a nationally celebrated children's environmental
health non-profit coalition of over fifty organizations located
in Southern California. CSS is recognized for spearheading the
most stringent pesticide policy in the nation at Los Angeles
Unified School District (the second largest in the nation). The
policy was the first in the United States to embrace the
Precautionary Principle and Parents Right to Know about
pesticides used on school campuses. Today it has become the
model for school districts & communities internationally.
http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/2009/08/embracing_the_p.html
California Safe Schools
www.calisafe.org
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