Commission policy to ‘focus more on children’

Date: 18/04/02

CHILDREN have been 'neglected' by EU environmental policymaking and will be given more consideration in future, the European Commission has said.

The Union executive's chief environment official made the pledge as he unveiled a new report showing that children are more vulnerable than adults to diseases caused by pollution and chemical contamination.

The study by the European Environment Agency (EEA) and World Health Organisation (WHO) reveals that 40 of all sufferers of diseases caused by environmental factors are children under five - a situation that is getting worse.

'Respiratory diseases, food allergies, birth defects...the incidence of all these diseases in children is on the rise,' said Jean-François Verstrynge, acting director-general for environment.

Verstrynge said a joint paper expected this year from Margot Wallström and David Byrne, the environment and health commissioners, would bring a 'focus on children' to future green or public health EU initiatives.

The EEA/WHO study was released on Monday (15 April), marking the start of the Commission's Green Week of seminars and events on EU environmental priorities.

It shows that children are less able than adults to expel harmful chemicals from their bodies, and are exposed to more environmental toxins because they eat, drink and breathe more per unit of body weight. The risk of radiation-induced cancer is four times greater for a five-year-old than for an adult, and 16 times greater for a three-month-old baby, it says.

The shift of emphasis towards children means their lower tolerances could be given more weight in new policies to regulate pollution or limit the quantities of harmful chemicals in food, soil, air or water.

'It's time we raised the awareness of these problems and undertook more research and monitoring,' Verstrynge said. 'I would say that the children dimension has not been ignored, but to a certain extent neglected.'

• OBESITY is a growing problem among European children, MEP Caroline Lucas has warned.

Speaking at a Green Week debate on transport policy and children's health, the UK Green said changes in leisure pursuits away from physical exercise and the increased use of cars for transport were also responsible for increased rates of heart disease and diabetes.

Recent studies suggest some parts of Europe are threatening to overtake the US in child obesity - notably the UK, where 15 of girls are overweight compared with 13 of all American children.

Children have been 'neglected' by EU environmental policymaking and will be given more consideration in future, the European Commission has said. The pledge follows the unveiling of a new report showing that children are more vulnerable than adults to diseases caused by pollution and chemical contamination.