1. Healthy Children for the Next Generations Engaging Policymakers in Children’s Environmental Health Presentation to the NB Commission on Hydraulic Fracturing December 7, 2015 New Brunswick Children's Environmental Health Collaborative

2. Objectives Definitions The burden of disease from environmental hazards Hazards in children’s environments Why children are not just little adults. Children’s health issues related to hydraulic fracturing Recommendations New Brunswick Children's Environmental Health Collaborative

3. What is “Environmental Health”? “Those aspects of human health, including quality of life, that are determined by physical, chemical, biological, social, and psychosocial factors in the environment”. It also refers to “the theory and practice of assessing, correcting, controlling, and preventing those factors in the environment that can potentially affect adversely the health of present and future generations”. ~ World Health Organization, 2007 New Brunswick Children's Environmental Health Collaborative

4. What is “ Children ’ s Environmental Health ” ? The scope of “childhood”: developmental stages from conception through adolescence pre-conception exposures for both parents Why children? Children are far more vulnerable than adults. New Brunswick Children's Environmental Health Collaborative

5. The Environmental Burden of Disease in Canada WHO identified significant diseases in adults in Canada with links to environmental hazards Respiratory diseases Lung cancer, other cancers Neuro-developmental disorders (includes learning disabilities) Cardiovascular diseases 13% of Canada’s total burden of disease is preventable through healthier environments. * Based on national exposure and WHO Canada statistics Reference: WHO. Public Health and the Environment. 2009. Country profiles of environmental burden of disease by WHO regions. New Brunswick Children's Environmental Health Collaborative

6. The Environmental Burden of Disease in Canada Boyd and Genuis (2008): Every year in Canada, there are.... 10,000 – 25,000 deaths 78,000 – 194,000 hospitalizations Up to 1.8 M restricted activity days due to asthma 500-2500 low birth weight babies 8,000 – 24,000 new cases of cancer An estimated 2% - 10% of congenital anomalies*... attributable to environmental factors. New Brunswick Children's Environmental Health Collaborative

7. The Environmental Burden of Disease in Canada Boyd and Genuis (2008): Annually in Canada, there are between $3.6 and $9.1 Billion due to: respiratory disease cardiovascular disease cancer and congenital affliction... that are associated with adverse environmental exposures. New Brunswick Children's Environmental Health Collaborative

8. Chemicals in our Bodies Over 80,000 chemicals have been produced since the mid 1950s. Over 80% have never been tested for safety to human health. New Brunswick Children's Environmental Health Collaborative Our “body burden” of chemicals – found in adult blood, breast milk and infant cord blood. 2005 study found average of 200 industrial chemicals in infant cord blood. Many studies over the last decade confirm that there is nowhere on earth where the blood of infants is free of industrial chemicals.

9. Children’s Exposures are Proportionally Far Greater Than Adults’ Adult’s Exposure Pathways Air Water Soil Food Consumer Products Child’s Exposure Pathways Air Water Soil Food Consumer products, such as toys, children’s jewelry, carpets, floor surfaces, etc. + Placenta Breast milk New Brunswick Children's Environmental Health Collaborative

10. Children’s Exposures are Greater... Continued body mass (kg for kg of body weight, a child will drink more water, eat more food and breathe more air than an adult) physiology (e.g., breathing is more rapid, ability to metabolize and excrete contaminants is less developed than in adults) behaviours (children tend to be more active, explore their environment orally, and play lower to the ground where contaminants settle)

11. Critical Windows of Vulnerability Source: Stages of Human Development (courtesy of Dr Jerrold Heindel, US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences) New Paradigm for Toxicology “In early development, the timing makes the poison.” Figure originally from Moore & Persaud, 1998 New Brunswick Children's Environmental Health Collaborative

12. New Brunswick Focus Asthma Learning Disabilities/ Neurodevelopmental Effects Obesity/Diabetes Adverse Reproductive Outcomes New Brunswick Children's Environmental Health Collaborative

13. Health Impacts on Children from Chemicals Used in Hydraulic Fracturing Acute and chronic health problems in children and pregnant women, including respiratory, neurological, reproductive, and developmental impacts. ~US Center for Environmental Health Exposing children to chemicals related to shale gas development affects development over time, from pre- conception  in utero  infancy  early childhood  to full maturity in late teen years. ~US Center for Environmental Health

14. What We Know For Sure Canada, a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, is obligated to protect children’s health. Most adverse environmental exposures are preventable through stronger public policy, technological change and changing our behaviour. ~ Boyd and Genuis, 2008 New Brunswick Children's Environmental Health Collaborative

15. Recommendations to Government Continue the moratorium on shale gas development until human and ecological safety can be assured. Recognize that protecting environments in order to protect children’s health is a collective responsibility of society. Implement the Recommendations of the NB Chief Medical Officer of Health concerning shale gas development, 2012. Support the proposed Bill of Rights to protect the health of children from environmental harm. New Brunswick Children's Environmental Health Collaborative

16. Contact Info Bonnie Hamilton Bogart, Team Lead for “Team Policy” of the New Brunswick Children’s Environmental Health Collaborative (NB CEH Collaborative) bonniehb@nb.sympatico.ca bonniehb@nb.sympatico.ca NB Children’s Environmental Health Collaborative: http://www.nben.ca/index.php/en/groups-in-action/working-together/new-brunswick- children-s-environmental-health-collaborative http://www.nben.ca/index.php/en/groups-in-action/working-together/new-brunswick- children-s-environmental-health-collaborative New Brunswick Environmental Health Network: http://www.nben.ca http://www.nben.ca Proposed NB Bill of Rights to Protect Children’s Health from Environmental Hazards: FB: http://on.fb.me/1nCxAbm Website: http://nben.ca/childrens-rights http://on.fb.me/1nCxAbm