The Olympian – Dr. Rachel Wood
” Actions that protect and support healthy babies and young children can benefit those children their whole lives. Sadly, the flip side is also true: Unhealthy conditions for babies and young children also can adversely affect them throughout their lives. The home environment plays a big role in a child’s health. For example, exposure to mold can lead to asthma and other respiratory problems. Household products (such as some cleaning products or pesticides) can contain chemicals that cause immediate harm to an exposed child or disrupt development. Exposure as a baby or young child to even a small amount of lead, which may be present in lead-based paint in older homes, can have lifelong impact on learning, reduce IQ, and cause behavior or hearing problems, slowed growth, and anemia. How do we assure healthy living conditions for our children? Policies and regulations are one way. For example, beginning in 1978, lead was no longer added to paint; it was phased out of use in gasoline beginning in the mid-1970s, and was banned altogether from gas after 1995. Policies such as these have reduced our exposure to lead and have helped create healthier communities.”(more)