Raising Healthy Children in a Toxic World – Part 2

This is Part 2 of a two part video filmed at the Mount Sinai Childrens Environmental Health Centers 2nd Annual Greening Our Children Benefit. In this video, Dr. Philip J. Landrigan discusses the current state of pediatric health and its environmental threats. In particular, Dr. Landrigan notes that: • The diseases affecting youth today are not acute illnesses but are instead chronic. Those with the largest incidence include asthma, learning disabilities, cancer, obesity, birth defects, and allergies; • Since the 1970s, the rate of childhood leukemia has increased at a rate of approximately 1% per year; • Increasing incidence of disorders of the male reproductive system have been observed including decreased sperm counts and increasing rates of testicular cancer and hypospadias; • Rates of obesity continue to rise especially among children of poor socioeconomic backgrounds. In Mount Sinais own backyard, East Harlem, 42% of 5 year old children entering kindergarten are obese. Dr. Landrigan states that the combined evidence shows that genetic factors alone cannot account for these rapidly increasing rates of chronic diseases; something else must be to blame. Evidence points towards environmental factors, particularly the large number of synthetic chemicals released into our environment every day. The message to take away is one of hope: these diseases are preventable. With good research, strong political action and the will of the populous we can catalyze change and again …

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