Although housing-related health hazards are a concern for
people of every age group, young children are at special risk from health hazards
in their homes. Young children spend the vast majority of their time in the
home and they are most vulnerable biologically. Children’s bodies take
in proportionately greater amounts of environmental toxins than adults, and
their rapidly developing organs are especially vulnerable to pollutants. Since
children naturally crawl and play on the floor, they are in direct contact with
areas where contaminants accumulate, and they are likely to ingest those contaminants
through their normal hand-to-mouth behavior and play.
Sadly, our most vulnerable children face the greatest
risks for hazards in their homes. Low-income children are at a significantly
higher risk for lead poisoning than children from upper-income families; African-American
children are at a two times higher risk than white children. In some distressed
neighborhoods, almost one third of preschool children suffer from elevated blood
lead levels. Asthma is the most common chronic disease of childhood and health
records show that African-American, Hispanic, and low-income children suffer
higher rates of hospitalization, emergency room visits, and deaths from asthma.
Even after accounting for socioeconomic differences, African-American children
are twice as likely to have asthma and six times more likely to die from it
than white children.
