Children learn best when they feel well. For children with sensitive airways, air
quality can make the difference between being in class or being in a hospital
emergency room. The link between air quality and health is now as well appreciated as the link between health and school success.
Children and Pollution
Children have a special vulnerablity to pollution due to their hand-to-mouth behaviors, immature immune systems, and faster metabolism, which results in greater pound-for-pound intake of food, water and air. The national asthma rate (2006) for children (0-17) is 9.3%, for adults, 7.3%. Inner-city asthma rates are significantly higher. In some NYC neighborhoods as much as 25% of children have been diagnosed with asthma.
What health or learning problems are associated with pollution?
Indoor air quality problems may be diagnosed only after treating health symptoms and illnesses attributable to an indoor environment. The most common symptoms reported for poor indoor air quality include, but are not limited to:
- irritations of eyes, nose, throat
- dry mucous membranes and skin
- mental fatigue, headache, sleepiness
- airway infections, cough
- hoarseness, wheezing
- nausea, dizziness
- redness, flushing of the face or skin rashes
- unspecific hypersensitivity reactions
Sick Building Syndrome
Sick building syndrome (SBS) is a combination of ailments (a syndrome) associated with an individual's place of work (school, office building, factory, etc.) or residence. How to tell if a child is affected by polluted indoor air at school? Ask these questions:
- Does the child regularly go to school healthy and return home sick or deeply fatigued?
- Does the child have more frequent or more severe asthma attacks on school days?
- What about other health problems, such as rashes, nausea, headaches, joint pain or congestion?
- Are any of the child’s friends coming home with health complaints?
- Is school under renovation or seriously overcrowded?
- Was school built in a wet area or on contaminated ground?
- Do the air intake vents draw in vehicle exhaust, or emissions from adjacent hazardous facilities.
Environmental Asthma
Indoor and outdoor environmental triggers worsen asthma symptoms. Research has shown that excessive exposure to diesel exhaust and secondhand smoke can cause asthma attacks and may even cause asthma. During the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, the downtown area of the city was closed to private vehicles. Acute asthma care visits to clinics and hospitals decreased by about 40%.
All exhaust fumes are bad for our health and bad for the environment - but diesel fumes are the worst. The fine particulates of diesel fuel can bypass respiratory defense mechanisms and lodge deep in the lungs, impairing lung function. While prolonged exposure to particulate matter is a factor in reducing overall life expectancy by a few years, short-term exposure is associated with increased risk of death from heart attacks or other cardiovascular events. Diesel fumes may enhance the effects of some allergens among sensitive individuals. Recent scientific studies point to evidence that diesel emissions not only exacerbate asthma but that prolonged exposure can cause asthma and can set-up a propensity for asthma in the unborn. Children, because of their proximal relationship to diesel-powered school buses and their quick metabolisms, are at particular risk.
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