Children less than two years of age are a group that is at a greater risk of exposure and susceptibility to environmental toxins. Rapid development and growth occur in early childhood. Such aspects as metabolic and organ system function augmentation result in toxicant exposure being particularly harmful and having significant effects on further child development. Young children have increased vulnerability due to physiological and behavioral aspects.
Toddler behavior of hand-to-mouth movements after touching objects results in a higher risk of exposure. In addition, they require greater air intake per kilogram of body weight (Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry, 2016); therefore, a greater proportion of toxic substances than an adult.
Individuals with poor lung function have increased susceptibility as a group that experiences greater effects once the toxicant exposure occurs. Such atmospheric exposure as pollution haze which carries ambient particulate matter (PM) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) has severe health effects which result in hospital admission or death (Liu et al., 2016). The detrimental effects include aggravation of asthma and decreased breathing capacity.
This occurs due to dysfunctional lungs’ inability to effectively filter the particulate matter or the chemical content of the air. Coarse particles, levels of which are often exceeded in polluted cities, can be filtered to some extent; however, fine particles are breathed in deep into the lungs and can result in oxidative stress and disrupt pulmonary function.
Individuals in poor housing close to agriculture or industry are at a greater risk of exposure to environmental toxicants. In communities in which residential neighborhoods and heavy industry overlap, there is a statistical increase in the rates of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases (Hendricks, 2012). This occurs due to the lack of appropriate distance to production facilities, in mixed-use zoning particularly, which is beneficial from an economic perspective but results in declining population health.
Many of these communities are working-class families living in homes that are of inadequate quality and cheaply constructed for house industry workers. The mixed-use zoning results in the lack of a buffer zone. Heavy metal chemicals produced by industries are highly concentrated within a mile of the source and can be noticeably detected even further.
References
Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry. (2016). Principles of pediatric environmental health: Why are children often especially susceptible to the adverse effects of environmental toxicants? Web.
Hendricks, J. (2012). When people and industry live side-by-side: Health impacts of PM pollution. Web.
Liu, S. K., Cai, S., Chen, Y., Xiao, B., Chen, P., & Xiang, X. D. (2016). The effect of pollution haze on pulmonary function. Journal of Thoracic Disease, 8(1), 41–56. Web.