Build Your Child's Defenses

Good nutrition

Some sort of contact with potentially harmful toxins is inevitable for all children. While it’s important to limit this contact, good nutrition is one way your child’s body stays strong so it can fight off the effects of what toxins he does come in contact with. Make sure your child eats plenty of green, leafy vegetables, fruits, and whole grain breads; drinks plenty of milk; and avoids fats and sugars.

Wash those hands

Hand washing is an easy way to avoid several harmful toxins. Lead, mercury, and pesticides can be eaten when children put their fingers and hands in their mouths. These pollutants can damage your child’s ability to learn, and mercury can slow down your child from reaching developmental milestones, like walking and talking. So make sure your child’s hands are washed often, especially before eating!

Sun safety

Aside from painful sunburns, over-exposure to the sun during childhood can cause skin cancers later as an adult. Sun over-exposure can also cause cataracts, premature wrinkles, and suppression of the immune system.

Tips for Sun Safety

• For children over six months of age, always use sunscreen (UVA and UVB blocking; at least SPF 15; applied every two hours) when outside on a sunny day.
• Keep infants away from direct exposure to the sun.
• Have your children wear hats and sunglasses that block UV radiation.
• Have your child wear protective clothing during long periods in the sun.
• Avoid midday sun (between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.) as much as possible.
• Watch for the UV Index (UV rays are the sun’s strongest) in weather reports in newspapers and on TV.

Test for lead

Have your child evaluated for lead before his first birthday. Early detection of lead can decrease the chances of your child being harmed by its effects. Exposure to lead can result in damage to the brain, kidneys, blood, central nervous system, and reproductive system. To get an evaluation, talk to your doctor or call 1-800-LEAD-FYI.

Test for Radon

Have your home tested for radon. Radon is a radioactive, odorless, colorless gas. When present in the air in your home, it can damage lung tissue and lead to lung cancer, especially when combined with tobacco smoke. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that nearly one in fifteen homes across the United States have unsafe radon levels. Since communities are not affected evenly, everyone is encouraged to test for radon. Radon is easy and inexpensive to test for, and there are many ways to do it, including EPA-certified home test kits. If your home has over 4 pCi/L (a measurement of radioactivity) of radon, you should take action to reduce it. For more information on radon, call the EPA's radon help-line at (800) SOS-RADON [800-767-7236], or visit these EPA sites:
http://www.epa.gov/iaq/radon/pubs/consguid.html#howenters
http://www.epa.gov/iaq/radon/rnxlines.html.

Pregnancy and breast-feeding

Pregnant women and women who are breast-feeding should pay special attention to avoiding pollutants. Mothers are a direct link to what is exposed to children. Pregnant women transmit their own exposure to lead, mercury, PCBs, and smoke to their growing fetus. These pollutants harm the fetus’s development in many ways, including proper physical growth, immune system, and brain. Breast milk contains the same lead, mercury, and PCBs that the mother is exposed to. An infant’s exposure to these pollutants can damage the ability to learn as well as delay the achievement of developmental milestones, like walking and talking. However, because the benefits of breast-feeding far outweigh the risks, we strongly encourage the breast-feeding of young children, but women who breast-feed should guard against contact with pollutants. One easy step is to avoid mercury and PCBs with Guidelines for Eating Fish Safely.