Environmental medicine, is a relatively unpopular scientific field. However, we all know that the growth and development of organisms are closely related to the living environment. Therefore, in recent years, more and more researchers have been involve in this field, hoping to understand more about environmental hazards. Then, we can improve our environment based on these knowledge. Among those hazards, health impacts to children are most critical parts.
In the past, perhaps due to differences in research resources, most of the research data came from the Western world, and the discussion was also about the living environment and ethnicity in the West. If these data are applied to Asian countries, there will be more uncertainty. Luckily, since 2011, the Birth Cohort Consortium of Asia (Birth Cohort Consortium of Asia, BiCCA) has been carried out jointly by ten countries in Asia. BiCCA especially focused on discussing environmental health issues of from pre-pregnancy, during-pregnancy, post-partum, to childhood.
Recently,《Science of the Total Environment》published apaperin 2017, that retrospectively collected a large amount of data on the environmental hazards related to child health in Asian countries from several papers, and analyzed these data to put forward several major environmental hazards:
【Environmental hazards related to children's health】
Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS)
related to infant birth weight, children's neurodevelopmental problems, and allergy diseases.
Mercury
related to children's neurodevelopmental problems.
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
related to children's neurodevelopmental problems.
Plasticizer(Phthalates, PAEs)
related to children's endocrine problems.
Perfluorinated and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)
related to children's endocrine problems, neurological development problems, and allergic diseases.
Due to the large amount of papers discussed in this retrospective papers, it is impossible to mention all of them in this article. The main purpose of this article is to highlight the environmental hazards related to children’s health that have been confirmed in Asian studies, and remind everyone to pay attention to whether these factors are present in their own environment. If possible, please try to improve them and reduce the exposure amount. Through this, we can help the next generation live healthier!
〈The author is former Attending Physician in National Taiwan University Hospital, and Master of Science from National Taiwan University〉