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Michigan Falls Short in Protecting Children From Pollution

Study Recommends Michigan Revamp Laws, Rules To Curtail Pollution-Related Health Risks for Kids

Embargoed until Tuesday, August 20

Contact: Dave Dempsey, 517.487.9539
Mary Beth Doyle: 734.761.3186 x 108

Michigan pollution policies fail to adequately protect children from environmental hazards, the Ecology Center and Michigan Environmental Council said in a report released today. The report details the ways in which children are particularly vulnerable to environmental toxins, and provides evidence suggesting that the health of Michigan's children may already be adversely affected. The groups call on the state to enact policies to protect children from a variety of pollution-related health risks ranging from asthma to developmental delays.

In Guarding Michigan’s Most Vulnerable: Making Michigan A Leader In Protecting Children from Environmental Pollution, the two groups say the state has fallen behind in moving to protect children from health risks caused by pollution. "The next Governor and Legislature should make protection of children one of the cornerstones of state environmental policy," said Lana Pollack, MEC President.

The report was prepared with the assistance of Dr. William Weil, an East Lansing pediatrician who serves as a member of the Ecology Center/MEC science advisory committee. Dr. Weil, who served on a National Academy of Sciences panel on pesticides in the diets of infants and children, said the report exposes an important gap in Michigan’s environmental health policies.

"Children in Michigan are clearly at risk from environmental pollutants," said Dr. Weil. "Maternal consumption of methyl mercury and PCBs puts the fetus at special risk since the nervous system is most vulnerable to permanent damage during the intrauterine period. Exposures to lead, air pollutants and contamination of water and soil with heavy metals and persistent organic toxic substances such as PCBs all expose the young infant and toddler to additional dangers for permanent brain damage and persistent behavioral abnormalities."

The report notes that "children are not small adults" and that pollution that may not harm adults can have both immediate and long-term effects on children. Small doses of pollution at critical stages of development can be harmful. Children’s diets and water consumption differ from those of adults and their behavior may put them at greater risk for some pollution as well.

The 20-page report notes that an estimated 40,000 children in Michigan have elevated blood lead levels, 1.5 million children in the state live in areas that received an "F" grade in air quality from the American Lung Association in 2001, and that Michigan children whose parents consumed large amounts of contaminated sportfish showed measurable delays in neurological development.

"This report shows how we're failing our children. We need to take immediate steps to protect our most precious resource – kids," said Mary Beth Doyle of the Ecology Center.The report urges the next Governor and Legislature to address environmental health threats by: Changing state law to make protection of children, rather than full-grown adults, the basis for standard-setting for air, water and waste programs;

  1. Cracking down on mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants;
  2. Phasing out toxic chemicals that pose unacceptable risks to children’s development;
  3. Increasing efforts to educate parents on how to avoid exposure of their children to pollution;
  4. Using the Great Lakes Protection Fund to launch an aggressive research program on children’s environmental health exposures.

The report is available on the Michigan Environmental Council website: www.mecprotects.org.

The Michigan Environmental Council, based in Lansing, is a statewide coalition of over 50 environmental, public health, and faith-based organizations working together to protect the environment. The Ecology Center is based in Ann Arbor and is a regional environmental organization which works for clean air, safe water, and environmental justice.

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