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| CA Strategic Plan |
| Recommendations |
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Public Support |
Youth Involvement
& Development |
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Access to Care |
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Service Coordination |
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Families |
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Communities |
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Schools |
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Data |
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Envirnmental & Occupational
Health | Overview |
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Envirnmental &
occupational health |
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| This is Chapter 3, Outcome Area
7 of California's adolescent health strategic plan. To
view the full plan, click
here. |
The environment plays an important role in the health of people
of all ages, contributing to illnesses such as asthma and cancer,
and to neurodevelopmental and reproductive conditions. However,
environmental concerns vary somewhat based on age and development.
Children and young adolescents are physically smaller than adults,
increasing their vulnerability to lower exposures of toxins
and to workplace hazards. Most importantly, adolescence is a
time of rapid physical and sexual growth; the body is particularly
vulnerable to disruption of the hormonal and endocrine changes
necessary for normal development and reproduction. Fortunately,
we are seeing a positive trend toward considering the needs
of children and adolescents in environmental and occupational
health regulations. Still, much remains to be learned about
how to best protect youth from environmental hazards. |
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Data snapshot |
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Schools |
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The physical condition of schools
in California has raised concerns about the exposure of youth
to environmental hazards. Forty-three percent of California
public schools report that at least one on-site building is
in inadequate condition and 87% report a need to upgrade or
repair on-site buildings.119
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The portable classrooms used to alleviate
overcrowding and create space for class size reduction are often
constructed from materials that release irritant chemicals into
the air. The concentration of these chemicals can reach dangerous
levels if classrooms are not adequately ventilated. Improved
compliance with the most stringent heating, ventilation, and
air conditioning systems regulations is needed. In addition,
air filters are needed to reduce airborne dust, pollen and microorganisms
from recirculated and outdoor air streams which may contribute
to asthma and other problems. |
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A recent study of California public schools
found that 4.7% of responding schools had at least one classroom
with radon levels exceeding the levels recommended by
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).120
The EPA estimates that approximately 14,000 lung cancer deaths
per year occur in the U.S. due to residential radon exposures.
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School buildings are densely populated,
with the typical school having approximately four times as many
occupants as office buildings for the same amount of floor space.
There are a variety of pollutant Source in schools, such
as art and science supplies, industrial and vocational shop
areas, home economics classes, and others. |
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An assessment of toxic pesticide use
in schools found that 52% of responding California schools reported
using one or more pesticides identified by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency and the State of California as being a reproductive
or developmental toxin.121
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Home and Community Environments |
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Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS)
also called “secondhand smoke,” is a major indoor
air pollutant that affects youth. One study of the health effects
of ETS found that children who were exposed to environmental
tobacco smoke had a higher incidence of acute respiratory illnesses,
twice as many days of restricted activity, and more school absences
per year than children who were not exposed to ETS.122
Exposure to high level of allergens such as dust mites and
cockroaches also has been shown to exacerbate asthma.123,124
Both of these allergens are more prevalent in lower income environments,
which is consistent with the higher death and hospitalization
rates from asthma among poor and African American children.125 |
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Another potentially hazardous exposure in
the house is to pesticides. Although pesticide residues
on food have received a great deal of public attention, youth
are often exposed to higher levels of pesticides through use
at home and in schools. In a monitoring project conducted by
the Environmental Working Group in 1998, 64% of the air samples
collected contained traces of pesticides known to cause
cancer, brain damage, birth defects, acute poisoning and other
illnesses.126 |
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A growing number of youth are affected by
asthma, the most common chronic illness of childhood.127
Between 1980 and 1994, the prevalence of asthma among children
5 to 14 years old increased by 74% (from 42.8 to 74.4 per 1,000).128
Common air pollutants are associated with increased respiratory
illnesses, aggravation of asthma, and decreases in lung function.
High levels of fine particulate matter and carbon monoxide have
been found to be associated with emergency room visits for asthma
in youth.127 Ground-level
ozone, which is a ubiquitous air pollutant, also has been linked
to a higher incidence of asthmatic attacks.129 |
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Environmental racism is a growing
concern in many low-income communities and communities of color
that have a disproportionate share of waste disposal sites and
industries with potentially hazardous emissions.130 |
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Workplace Health and Safety |
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According to the 1990 Census, there are almost
800,000 youth (ages 16 to 19) in the labor force in California.
Nationally, work related injuries are responsible for
approximately 100,000 hospitalizations and 70 deaths among young
people each year. The most common causes of work-related deaths
among 16 and 17 year olds are motor vehicle related, electrocutions,
and homicides. Adolescents’ rate of injury per hour worked
is almost twice as high as the rate for adults (4.9 injured
per 100 compared to 2.8 per 100). Factors contributing to
youth injuries at work are lack of adequate health and safety
training, inadequate supervision, lack of experience, and assignment
of tasks for which youth may not be prepared, physically, cognitively,
or emotionally.60 In addition, the
physical conditions of most job sites, health and safety protection
standards, and health and safety training are often adult-oriented.
The federal 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act, the principal federal
law addressing the protection of children at work, contains
many outdated provisions. Agricultural occupations carry fewer
restrictions for laborers under age 18. This is a concern for
California’s youth given the hazardous nature of agricultural
work and its prevalence in California. |
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Examples of current efforts |
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- The Children’s Environmental Health Network
is a national, multidisciplinary project dedicated to promoting
a healthy environment and to protecting children from environmental
hazards. The Network is composed of experts who address
children’s environmental health issues through education,
research, and policy.
- The California Department of Toxic Substances Control
works to protect the public and the environment from hazardous
substances and includes programs such as site clean-up,
pollution prevention, and environmental technology certification
and education.
- The State Environmental Health Investigations Branch
responds to environmental health problems, conducts health
and exposure investigations as well as surveillance, provides
public health oversight and assistance to state and local
health agencies, and develops policy recommendations.
- The Labor Occupational Health Program (LOHP), established
in 1974, is a community outreach program at the University
of California, Berkeley dedicated to improving health and
safety in the workplace. LOHP provides information and training
to unions, workers, joint labor-management groups, community
organizations, health professionals, government, and schools
with an emphasis on toxic substances, hazardous waste, youth
in the workforce, workplace violence, ergonomics, workers’
compensation, and environmental justice.
- The State Division of Environmental and Occupational
Disease Control conducts surveillance, investigation,
laboratory analyses, education, and technical assistance
on environmental and occupational diseases.
- In the area of occupational health, the State of California
Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Labor Standards
Enforcement has regulatory oversight of California’s
child labor laws. California’s child labor laws generally
were less stringent than federal law until 1994 when the
legislature voted to bring them into compliance with federal
standards.
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Strategies to improve environmental &
occupational health |
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1. Create safer
school environments. |
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- Create specific standards regarding portables in the Building
Standards Code that will adhere to the State Department
of General Services’ specifications on portable classrooms.
- Eliminate schools’ use of pesticides that cause cancer
and other adverse effects and ensure that school pesticide
use is reported under the state pesticide use reporting
system.
- Include the California Department of Toxic Substance Control,
school districts, and the California Department of Education
in the review and clean-up of all new school sites where
the presence of toxins is suspected.
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2. Support broad-based environmental health
strategies. |
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- Revise existing federal and state regulatory standards
establishing allowable levels of exposure to hazardous toxins
in order to adequately incorporate adolescents’ differential
exposure and susceptibility.
- Study the effects of environmental toxins on adolescents,
particularly concerning the interaction of environmental
chemicals and reproductive development.
- Create community-based pollution prevention campaigns
targeting, for example, city councils, city environmental
managers, school boards, superintendents, and others.
- Create pollution prevention plans through collaboration
between local government and private industry that allow
changes to be made in a phased, strategic way.
- Enhance awareness among parents and communities about
the hazards of environmental tobacco smoke to the health
of children and adolescents, and promote tobacco-free environments
for children and adolescents.
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3. Enhance teens’
safety in the workplace. |
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- Develop and provide information and training to employers,
educators, parents, and youth to reduce the risks and enhance
the benefits associated with youth employment.
- Ensure that each school district in California establishes
a comprehensive system for issuing work permits and increase
compliance with permit requirements.
- Establish “Commendable Workplaces for Youth”
as an incentive to encourage employers to create and maintain
safe workplaces for youth.
- Regularly review regulations prohibiting youth employment
in jobs deemed too hazardous for youth under the age of
18 (and under the age of 16 in agriculture).
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Additional resources |
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Failing Health: Pesticide Use in California
Schools. California Public Interest Research Group Charitable
Trust, 1998. |
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Advisory on Relocatable and Renovated
Classrooms. California Department of Health Services, Environmental
Health Laboratory Branch, Indoor Air Quality Program, 2151 Berkeley
Way, Berkeley, CA 94704. |
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Our Children at Risk: The Five Worst Environmental
Threats to Their Health. Natural Resources Defense Council,
November 1997. |
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Protecting Youth at Work. National
Research Council, Institute of Medicine, 1998. |
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Young Workers At Risk: Health and Safety
Education in the Schools. Bush, D. and Baker, R. Labor Occupational
Health Program, Center for Occupational and Environmental Health,
University of California, Berkeley, 1994. |
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Click
here to view references |
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