Water Pollution and Children’s Health

PDF (English)
Veröffentlicht: déc. 31, 2023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12681/hapscpbs.36655
Aikaterini Ntokou
Department of Public and Community Health, University of West Attica, Greece.
Sofia Kapeni
International Hellenic University, Greece.
Armandos Papadimitriou
School of Mechanical Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece.
Katerina Lefkidou
Hellenic Association of Political Scientists (HAPSc), Greece.
Sofia-Ioanna Tsalopoulou
Hellenic Association of Political Scientists (HAPSc), Greece.
Abstract

Water is the basic element for human survival and plays an important role to sustainable and socio-economic development, energy and food production, the preservation of healthy ecosystems. However, it is neglected, misused and undervalued as society does not protect it from various threats, climate change and pollution. The latter has affected freshwater sources, followed by an impact to children, as they are extremely sensitive to pollution. Most relevant water contaminants that affect are lead, pesticides, arsenic, perchlorate and nitrates. Addressing the problem and its components, the next step is to give answers to the issue outlining best practices and useful policy recommendations.

Article Details
  • Rubrik
  • Articles
Creative-Commons-Lizenz
Dieses Werk steht unter der Lizenz Creative Commons Namensnennung 4.0 International. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
Downloads
Keine Nutzungsdaten vorhanden.
Literaturhinweise
Bantol, K. E. A., Brumberg, H. L., Shah, S. I., & Javier, J. R. (2020). Perspectives from the Society for Pediatric Research: contaminants of water and children's health: Can we do better? Pediatr Res, 88(4), 535-543.
Bates, B.C., Z.W. Kundzewicz, S. Wu and J.P. Palutikof, Eds., (2008). Climate Change and Water. Technical Paper of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC Secretariat, Geneva, pp. 210.
Caretta, M.A., A. Mukherji, M. Arfanuzzaman, R.A. Betts, A. Gelfan, Y. Hirabayashi, T.K. Lissner, J. Liu, E. Lopez Gunn, R. Morgan, S. Mwanga, and S. Supratid (2022). Water. In: H.-O. Pörtner, D.C. Roberts, M. Tignor, E.S. Poloczanska, K. Mintenbeck, A. Alegría, M. Craig, S. Langsdorf, S. Löschke, V. Möller, A. Okem, B. Rama (eds.). Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK and New York, NY, USA, pp. 551–712.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2018). Case Studies in Environmental Medicine. Available at: https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/csem/csem.html (Accessed: 15/11/2023).
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID), Division of Foodborne, Waterborne, & Environmental Diseases (DFWED) (2022). Water Contamination and Diseases. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/drinking/contamination.html (Accessed: 15/11/2023).
Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022). Blood Lead Levels in Children. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/prevention/blood-lead-levels.htm (Accessed: 10/11/2023).
Douville, H., Raghavan, K., Renwick, J., Allan, R. P. , Arias, P. A., Barlow, M., Cerezo-Mota, R., Cherchi, A., Gan, T. Y., Gergis, J., Jiang, D., Khan, A., Mba, W. P., Rosenfeld, D., Tierney, J. and Zolina, O. (2021). Water cycle changes. In: Masson-Delmotte, V. P., Zhai, P., Pirani, A., Connors, S. L., Péan, C., Berger, S., Caud, N., Chen, Y., Goldfarb, L., Gomis, M. I., Huang, M., Leitzell, K., Lonno, E., Matthews, J. B. R., Maycock, T. K., Waterfield, T., Yelekçi, O., Yu, R. and Zhou, B. (eds.) Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to 45 the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, pp. 1055-1210.
Environment Protection Agency (2023a). Basic Information about Lead in Drinking Water. Available at: https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/basic-information-about-lead-drinking-water (Accessed: 10/11/2023).
Environment Protection Agency (2023b). Actions to Reduce Potential Lead Exposure. Available at: https://www.epa.gov/lead/actions-reduce-potential-lead-exposure (Accessed: 15/11/2023).
Environment Protection Agency (2023c). Ten Tips to Protect Children from Pesticides and Lead Poisoning. https://www.epa.gov/safepestcontrol/ten-tips-protect-children-pesticides-and-lead-poisoning (Accessed: 15/10/2023).
Etzel, R. A., & Balk, S. J. (2019). Drinking Water. In Pediatric Environmental Health (Vol. 4th Edition, pp. 277–291). American Academy of Pediatrics.
FAO. (2017). Water for sustainable food and agriculture a report produced for the G20 presidency of Germany. Rome.
Farzan, S. F., Karagas, M. R., & Chen, Y. (2013). In utero and early life arsenic exposure in relation to long-term health and disease. Toxicology and applied pharmacology, 272(2), 384-390.
Galvez, M. P., & Balk, S. J. (2017). Environmental Risks to Children: Prioritizing Health Messages in Pediatric Practice. Pediatr Rev, 38(6), 263-279.
GAO. (2020). Child Care Facilities: Federal Agencies Need to Enhance Monitoring and Collaboration to Help Assure Drinking Water is Safe from Lead. Available at: https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-20-597 (Accessed: 15/11/2023).
Han, Y., Li, D., Zou, C., Li, Y., & Zhao, F. (2023). Effects of perchlorate, nitrate, and thiocyanate exposures on serum total testosterone in children and adolescents. Science of The Total Environment, 861, 160566.
Landrigan, P. J., Fuller, R., Fisher, S., Suk, W. A., Sly, P., Chiles, T. C., & Bose-O'Reilly, S. (2019). Pollution and children's health. Science of The Total Environment, 650, 2389-2394. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.09.375
Last, J. M. (2007). A Dictionary of Public Health. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Maffini, M. V., Trasande, L., & Neltner, T. G. (2016). Perchlorate and diet: human exposures, risks, and mitigation strategies. Current environmental health reports, 3, 107-117.
Matysiak, M., Kruszewski, M., Jodlowska-Jedrych, B., & Kapka-Skrzypczak, L. (2016). Effect of prenatal exposure to pesticides on children's health. Journal of Environmental Pathology, Toxicology and Oncology, 35(4).
Mountford, H., Corfee-Morlot, J., McGregor, M., Banaji, F., Bhattacharya, A., Brand, J., Colenbrander, S., & Stern, N. (2018). Unlocking the inclusive growth story of the 21st century: Accelerating climate action in urgent times. Global Commission on the Economy and Climate.
National Center for Environmental Health. (2022). Prevent Children’s Exposure to Lead. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/features/leadpoisoning/index.html (Accessed: 13/11/2023).
National Toxicology Program. (2012). United States Department of Health and Human Services. NTP Monograph on Health Effects of Low-Level Lead.
Niziński, P., Błażewicz, A., Kończyk, J., & Michalski, R. (2021). Perchlorate–properties, toxicity and human health effects: an updated review. Reviews on Environmental Health, 36(2), 199-222.
Paulson, J. A., & Council on Environmental Health. (2011). Chemical-Management Policy: Prioritizing Children's Health. Pediatrics, 127(5), 983-990.
Pleus, R. C., & Corey, L. M. (2018). Environmental exposure to perchlorate: a review of toxicology and human health. Toxicology and applied pharmacology, 358, 102-109.
Quansah, R., Armah, F. A., Essumang, D. K., Luginaah, I., Clarke, E., Marfoh, K., Cobbina, S. J., Nketiah-Amponsah, E., Namujju, P. B., & Obiri, S. (2015). Association of arsenic with adverse pregnancy outcomes/infant mortality: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Environmental health perspectives, 123(5), 412-421.
Scharp C., Sargsyan H., Polo F. 2019. UNICEF Policy Brief: Mitigating arsenic in drinking water. UNICEF.
Shadbegian, R., Guignet, D., Klemick, H., & Bui, L. (2019). Early childhood lead exposure and the persistence of educational consequences into adolescence. Environmental research, 178, 108643.
Shaw, G. M., Yang, W., Roberts, E., Kegley, S. E., Padula, A., English, P. B., & Carmichael, S. L. (2014). Early pregnancy agricultural pesticide exposures and risk of gastroschisis among offspring in the San Joaquin Valley of California. Birth Defects Res A Clin Mol Teratol, 100(9), 686-694.
Suk, W. A., Ahanchian, H., Asante, K. A., Carpenter, D. O., Diaz-Barriga, F., Ha, E.-H., Huo, X., King, M., Ruchirawat, M., & da Silva, E. R. (2016). Environmental pollution: an under-recognized threat to children’s health, especially in low-and middle-income countries. Environmental health perspectives, 124(3), A41-A45.
Syafrudin, M., Kristanti, R. A., Yuniarto, A., Hadibarata, T., Rhee, J., Al-Onazi, W. A., Algarni, T. S., Almarri, A. H., & Al-Mohaimeed, A. M. (2021). Pesticides in Drinking Water-A Review. Int J Environ Res Public Health, 18(2).
Taylor, P. N., Okosieme, O. E., Murphy, R., Hales, C., Chiusano, E., Maina, A., Joomun, M., Bestwick, J. P., Smyth, P., Paradice, R., Channon, S., Braverman, L. E., Dayan, C. M., Lazarus, J. H., & Pearce, E. N. (2014). Maternal perchlorate levels in women with borderline thyroid function during pregnancy and the cognitive development of their offspring: data from the Controlled Antenatal Thyroid Study. J Clin Endocrinol Metab, 99(11), 4291-4298.
The World Bank (2021). Floods and Droughts: An EPIC Response to These Hazards in the Era of Climate Change. Available at: https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2021/06/17/floods-and-droughts-an-epic-response-to-these-hazards-in-the-era-of-climate-change (Accessed: 22/10/2023).
Tolins, M., Ruchirawat, M., & Landrigan, P. (2014). The developmental neurotoxicity of arsenic: cognitive and behavioral consequences of early life exposure. Annals of global health, 80(4), 303-314.
UN Environment Program. Nature for Climate Action. Available at: https://wedocs.unep.org/xmlui/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/35360/NatClim.pd (Accessed: 11/11/2023).
United Nations (2023). The Sustainable Development Goals Report - Special edition. Available at: https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2023/The-Sustainable-Development-Goals-Report-2023.pdf (Accessed: 15/11/2023).
Ward, M. H., Jones, R. R., Brender, J. D., De Kok, T. M., Weyer, P. J., Nolan, B. T., Villanueva, C. M., & Van Breda, S. G. (2018). Drinking water nitrate and human health: an updated review. International journal of environmental research and public health, 15(7), 1557.
Water Science School (2018). Pesticides in Groundwater. U.S. Geological Survey. Available at: https://www.usgs.gov/special-topics/water-science-school (Accessed: 12/11/2023).
World Health Organization (2022). Arsenic. Available at: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/arsenic#cms (Accessed: 11/11/2023).
World Meteorological Organization (2022). Early Warning systems must protect everyone within five years. Available at: https://public.wmo.int/en/media/press-release/%E2%80%8Bearly-warning-systems-must-protect-everyone-within-five-years (Accessed: 15/11/2023).
World Meteorological Organization (2021). Wake up to the looming water crisis, report warns. Available at: https://public.wmo.int/en/media/press-release/wake-looming-water-crisis-report-warns (Accessed: 11/11/2023).
World Meteorological Organization (2022). Protect our people and future generations: Water and Climate Leaders call for urgent action. Available at: https://public.wmo.int/en/media/press-release/protect-our-people-and-future-generations-water-and-climate-leaders-call-urgent (Accessed: 15/11/2023).