Environmental Contaminants and Children’s Health

147 Pages·1.758 MB·English

by  Mori C., Todaka E.

Environmental
Contaminants and
Children’s Health
Sustainable Health Science for Future Generations

Environmental
Contaminants and
Children’s Health
Sustainable Health Science for Future Generations
MORI, Chisato and TODAKA, Emiko
Center for Preventive Medical Science,
Chiba University, Japan
MARUZEN PLANET Co.,Ltd.
Environmental Contaminants and
Children’s Health
Sustainable Health Science for Future Generations
By MORI, Chisato and TODAKA, Emiko
First English edition: 2011
Second impression: 2011
The original Japanese edition published by Gijutsu-Hyohron Co. Ltd., TOKYO.
Copyright © 2008, 2011 MORI, Chisato and TODAKA, Emiko
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in
any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or by any information storage retrieval system, without permission.
The English translation published by Maruzen Planet Co., Ltd., TOKYO.
PRINTED IN JAPAN
The Authors
Dr. Chisato Mori, M.D., D. Med. Sc (Ph.D.)
1984 Doctor of Medicine from Asahikawa Medical College, Japan
1989 Doctor of Medical Science from Kyoto University, Japan
1984–1992 Assistant Professor, Department of Anatomy, Faculty of
Medicine, Kyoto University, Japan
1990–1992 Visiting Associate, Gamete Biology Section, Laboratories of
Reproductive and Developmental Toxicology, National
Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National
Institutes of Health, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina,
U.S.A.
1992–2000 Associate Professor, Department of Anatomy and
Developmental Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Kyoto
University, Japan
2000–present Professor, Department of Bioenvironmental Medicine,
Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Japan
2006–present Adjunct Professor, Division of Environmental Health
Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota,
U.S.A.
2008–present Director, Center for Preventive Medical Science, Chiba
University, Japan
Dr. Emiko Todaka, Ph.D
1993 Bachelor of Arts from Concordia University, Canada
2005 Doctor of Medical Science from Graduate School of
Medicine, Chiba University, Japan
1996–2001 Writer for the Environmental News, Tokyo, Japan
2001–2003 Research Associate, Department of Environmental Health,
SRL, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Japan
2003–2011 Assistant Professor, Center for Environment, Health and
Field Sciences, Chiba University, Japan
2009–present Adjunct Professor, School of Medicine, Inje University, Korea
2011–present Associate Professor, Center for Preventive Medical Science,
Chiba University, Japan

Contents
Preface ..................................................................................................................ix
Introduction .............................................................................................................x
Chapter 1 Contamination Begins in the Womb ..........................................1
1-1. Everyone Is Affected ......................................................................................3
1-2. Chemicals: Benefits and Risks ........................................................................4
1-3. The Umbilical Cord, the Placenta, and the Fetus .......................................11
Chapter 2 Damage Caused by in Utero Contamination: A History ...........21
2-1. The Fetal Period: The Most Vulnerable Time in Our Lives ........................23
2-2. The Three Major Tragedies Affecting Fetuses .............................................27
2-3. Minamata Disease .........................................................................................28
2-4. Thalidomide .................................................................................................35
2-5. DES (Diethylstilbestrol) ...............................................................................41
Chapter 3 Differences in Adults, Children, and Fetuses ...........................49
3-1. Children Are Not “Small Adults” ................................................................51
3-2. Differences in Adults, Children, and Fetuses: Part 1 ...................................53
3-3. Differences in Adults, Children, and Fetuses: Part 2 ...................................58
3-4. Differences in Adults, Children, and Fetuses: Part 3 ...................................63
Chapter 4 Multiple Contamination from Environmental Pollutants ..........67
4-1. PCBs and Dioxins .........................................................................................69
4-2. Changing Children—Is Environmental Pollution a Factor? .......................75
4-3. Other Contaminants ....................................................................................79
4-4. Gender Ratio Affected by Minute Amounts—Dioxins ...............................82
4-5. Limits of Toxicology Today ..........................................................................85
Chapter 5 New Thinking about Effects on Future Generations ................87
5-1. The Fetal Period May Determine Your Lifetime Health .............................89
5-2. Fetal Programming .......................................................................................91
5-3. Epigenetic Regulation of Gene Function .....................................................93
vii
Chapter 6 A New Concept for Protecting Our Children
—Environmental Preventive Medicine ....................................................99
6-1. Affluence and Pediatric Allergies ...............................................................101
6-2. Sick Building Syndrome .............................................................................104
6-3. Substances Responsible for Sick Building Syndrome ................................107
6-4. Changing the Environment to Prevent Illness ..........................................109
6-5. Urban Development Tailored to Unborn Children’s Needs ......................113
6-6. Action for Future Generations ...................................................................114
Chapter 7 Children’s Health and the Precautionary Principle ................117
7-1. Never-ending Need for Measures against Chemicals ................................119
7-2. Global Studies to Determine Impact on Children ....................................120
7-3. A Healthier Future with the Precautionary Principle ...............................123
7-4. Putting the Precautionary Principle into Practice .....................................124
Afterword ............................................................................................................129
Bibliography and Website References .....................................................................131
viii ENVIRONMENTAL CONTAMINANTS AND CHILDREN’S HEALTH
Preface
On the publication of Environmental Contaminants and Children’s Health:
Sustainable Health Science for Future Generations in English
Our book, Environmental Contaminants and Children’s Health: Sustainable Health
Science for Future Generations, was published in Japan in March 2008. Many
people read this book and we received comments and advice from readers. Some
suggested that we publish it in English to let others around the world know the facts
and take action to remedy the existing situation. We therefore started preparing
English version, hoping that it would be used as a textbook of environmental
health science in universities in the world. For publishing the English version,
we updated some data in the book. In two years since the publication of Japanese
version in 2008, Japanese Ministry of the Environment started longitudinal child
cohort study in Japan as same scale with National Children’s Study of the United
States.
It is well known that environmental pollution is ubiquitous and that many
persistent pollutants are detected in wild animals, even sea mammals. There is no
place where we can escape the contamination present on the earth.
In 1996, Theo Colborn, Diane Dumanoski, and John Peterson Myers
published a great book, Our Stolen Future, which warned of the possible adverse
health effects of pollutants worldwide on animals and humans. Our research on
umbilical cords has made it clear that even unborn children are contaminated
by many environmental pollutants, although it is not well known how such
contamination affects mental and physical health of children before birth.
However, it is vital to take action now, to prevent possible adverse health effects
and to improve the quality of life of future generations.
We hope that more people will learn about the current situation and
pay attention to this problem, and that they will take action to improve the
environment for unborn children.
We also would like to express our gratitude to the Japanese publisher Gijutsu-
Hyohron Co. Ltd. for giving us permission to use all the figures and tables for the
publication of the English version.
Chisato Mori and Emiko Todaka
December 2010
ix