hen
it comes to environmental health, a child in our society is like a
canary in a coal mine. Miners could teach modern civilization a thing
or two about the canary! The first lesson is: Pay attention to the
canary! If it dies, get the heck out of the mine!
But what should be done to stop the
poisoning of the world's children? There are numerous preventable
childhood diseases and deaths devastating families and communities in
our modern age due to the poison in our environment. The poisons are
there because, even though we may care deeply as individuals, as a
society, we are often ignorant and guilty accessories to nothing short
of murder.
Now if this seems too harsh an
accusation, please look no further than CBC television. Just
yesterday, after I finished doing the research for this very article,
I sat down to enjoy an hour of CBC TV. With an article from
EnvironmentalHealthNews.org entitled "Could the floral scent of
your air freshener contain toxic chemicals known to cause birth
defects?" weighing heavy on my mind, the following scenario
played out in a commercial...perhaps you've seen it. A child locks
herself in the bathroom. The child breathes deeply. The child makes
numerous peace doves and breathes deeply. The plug in air freshener
spews poison in the bathroom. The child leaves dazed. A second child
enters and closes the door. More deep breathing. The air freshener
gases another. I fume and loudly wonder to my husband if evil really
does exist or if ignorance and greed could be our final demise. Either
way, how dare our national broadcaster sell children the idea to sit
in their own private gas chambers during family viewing hours? Surely
we have all gone mad.
(photo: Don Flatt)
What to do? Regulate. Study.
Participate. Scream to high heavens. Cry. Legislate. The first thing
we need to do is stop letting our greed overrule our sense of
survival. If I wasn't so immersed in this devastating problem, I might
be able to take a few steps back and take a deep breath. However, the
last time I checked, my friend's daughter is still dead, my son still
can't breathe properly a lot of the time, my daughter gets welts from
unknown substances, I am on my third day of a migraine from a new
building that I was in for two hours three days ago and the research
keeps coming. Bisphenol A altering DNA, dioxin making us barren, DDT
still causing cancer, lead unsafe at any level, kids' lunches causing
neurological damage…and did I mention the air fresheners?
So, there is a growing recognition that
environmental factors may contribute to many of the leading causes of
illnesses and illness-related deaths, and adverse effects to the
general health and wellness of Canadian children. And what is our
government doing? The Environmental Health News tells us that,
"Unlike nearly every other industrialized country, Canada has no
coordinated environmental health strategy. As a result, Canada's
current patchwork approach to the most serious environmental hazards
threatens the health and well-being of every citizen. Exposure to
environmental contaminants is linked to asthma, poisonings, cancer,
Alzheimer's disease, developmental disorders, birth defects, and
reproductive problems."
(photo: Don Flatt)
Oh great! Canaries dropping like flies
and our leaders couldn't care a less. As a matter of fact, just this
past year, new regulations introduced by the Conservatives
specifically cite that, "…a person may advertise, sell, or
import an asbestos product that is used by a child in learning or
play." Shame.
There is hope. In the absence of any
action by the health department to ensure that public health is
protected from environmental contaminants, the Conservation Council
has launched a program we are calling Health Watch. The goal of this
program is to build public awareness of the link between pollution and
health that, in turn, will see the province institute an action plan
to reduce people's, particularly children's, exposure to industrial
pollutants and pesticides. We will examine the incidence of cancers in
communities around the province and their relationship to industrial
emissions and pesticides. We can't control the emissions of industrial
polluters, the use of pesticides by our neighbours, or the quality of
the air we breathe. That's the job of government and that's why we've
chosen the slogan - Stop Pollution, Prevent Cancer - to spearhead our
public awareness campaign. So, check out http://conservationcouncil.ca/
and if you do nothing else today, join us.
(photo: Don Flatt)
There is hope. I am an active
participant in the Children's Environmental Health committee for the
New Brunswick Environmental Network. As a representative of the
Conservation Council of New Brunswick, I can be optimistic that
someday we will all realize the madness of our time. I can be assured
that perhaps we will wake up and change our greed to need.
The Children's Environmental Health
committee is in its third year working to provide a clean and healthy
environment for children in New Brunswick. Our mission is, "To
work collaboratively to reduce children's exposure to environmental
contaminants that may cause illness, disability, disease, or
death." Under the mission, we have been developing six goals
which basically point the way to realizing our vision. Our committee
is a unique compilation of folks who are dedicated to fulfilling the
mission. It is made of representatives from a cross section of
environmental NGOs and the provincial government departments of health
and environment. The committee has hosted a series of Children's
Environmental Health workshops over the past three years. The third
and most recent workshop was geared towards an "action"
outcome. We brought many agencies, NGOs, and other stakeholders
together to work in their areas of common ground or "white
space" on this topic.
How can we still have hope? The latest
study from UBC tells us that exposures to environmental toxins kill up
to 25,000 Canadians every year. The rest of us are still alive -
there's hope where there's life. It's that simple.
