Children's Exposure to Environmental Contaminants: An Editorial Reflection of Articles in the IJERPH Special Issue Entitled, "Children's Exposure to Environmental Contaminants".
Children are at increased vulnerability to many environmental contaminants compared to adults due to their unique behavior patterns, increased contaminant intake per body weight, and developing biological systems. Depending upon their age, young children may crawl on the floor and may practice increased hand to mouth activity that may increase their dose-intake of specific contaminants that accumulate in dust and other matrices. Children are also smaller in size than adults, resulting in a greater body burden for a given contaminant dose. Because children undergo rapid transitions through particular developmental stages they are also especially vulnerable during certain growth-related time windows. A Special Issue was organized focused on the latest findings in the field of children's environmental exposure for these reasons. This editorial introduces articles in this Special Issue and emphasizes their main findings in advancing the field. From the many articles submitted to this Special Issue from around the world, 23 were accepted and published. They focus on a variety of research areas such as children's activity patterns, improved risk assessment methods to estimate exposures, and exposures in various contexts and to various contaminants. The future health of a nation relies on protecting the children from adverse exposures and understanding the etiology of childhood diseases. The field of children's environmental exposures must consider improved and comprehensive research methods aimed at introducing mitigation strategies locally, nationally, and globally. We are happy to introduce a Special Issue focused on children's environmental exposure and children's health and hope that it contributes towards improved health of children.
Environmental and Occupational Health, Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, 4301 West Markham, Slot 820, Little Rock, AR 72205, USA. Aferguson@uams.edu.
Alesia
A
Ferguson
Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Miami, Florida, 1251 Memorial Drive, Coral Gables, FL 33146, USA. hmsolo@miami.edu.
Helena
H
Solo-Gabriele
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D018570:Risk Assessment
D004785:Environmental Pollutants
children’s exposures; children’s health; environmental influences; risk assessment methods