Danger to children

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34087, 26 February 1976, Page 6

Danger to children

f.V.Z. Press Assn —Copyright)

BOSTON (Massachusetts)

I Children are most vulnerable to dirty air and :health authorities should pay more attention to protections them from air pollution, according to an American medical research workers.

Mrs Dorothy Noyse Kane, a public health specialist at Walden University, said United States standards for air quality had been set for adults, but they should be set for the 20m Americans under five.

She said children differ from grown-ups in at least seven ways in their reactions to air pollutants. They were closer to the ground where the air often was more i heavily loaded with poisons, [she said. However, little information on the nature of pollution at ■that height is known because measuring instruments are usually placed at adult breathing levels.

In a paper presented at the annual meeting of the Amer-

lican Association for the Advancement of Science, Mrs Kane said: “In addition to the fact that children’s breathing zone is closer to the ground, there’s the nature of their play—their dust raising proclivity as they travel hither and yon. and their hand-to-mouth activity.”

’ Children aiso breathe in more air per unit of bodyweight than adults and they are more active which brings in more air, she ■ said. Much of the air taken in by youngsters was through the mouth, which did not have the filtering action of the nose. Another important difference was the immaturity of the youngsters’ systems. Mrs Kane said children were in various stages of development and they might be more affected by pollutants than the mature organs of adults. Even when they were indoors, children did not necessarily get away from dirty air.

There might be more carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide inside than out, along with hydrocarbons from tobacco smoke, cooking, and aerosol sprays. “Little children (including

embrj’os) should shun parents, particularly mothers, who smoke," Mrs Kane said.