Children are more vulnerable than adults to illness linked to environmental destruction, but politicians continue to ignore the danger, World Health Organisation experts have said. Mr Roberto Bertollini, assistant director of the Rome Division of the WHO European Centre for Environment and Health, said: "It is extraordinary that safety standards for chemical contamination or food or water quality do not properly take into account the special vulnerability of children and the long-term effects on their health. Children breathe more air and are exposed to more pollutants relative to their body weight than adults and they are generally more susceptible to pollutants." The WHO said governments must "urgently determine how to reduce children's exposure to hazards", a special report stressed.
The report by the WHO and European Environment Agency spoke of a "new paediatric morbidity" in Europe. Today's children were vaccinated and no longer suffered hunger as widely as in the past, but were exposed to new toxic dangers from chemical products such as mercury and dioxin, as well as polluted air.
In addition to a net increase in asthma, certain cancers and neurological disorders were noted to be on the increase, caused in certain cases by residual pesticides in water and food. "For 75 per cent of the 70,000 to 100,000 chemicals on the European market, there is insufficient toxicity information available for even the most basic assessments recommended by the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development," the report said.
A WHO report from Geneva on Wednesday said pollution caused by motor vehicles could kill more people a year than road accidents.
Long-term exposure to exhaust fumes caused the premature deaths of 21,000 people from respiratory and heart disease in the France, Austria and Switzerland, compared with nearly 10,000 deaths from accidents, a study in the three countries had revealed.
In the three countries studied, air pollution from cars caused 300,000 extra cases of bronchitis in children, 15,000 hospital admissions for heart disease, 395,000 asthma attacks in adults and 162,000 such attacks in children.