Open AccessPosted Content
Costs of Preventable Childhood Illness: The Price We Pay for Pollution
Frank Ackerman,Rachel I. Massey +1 more
TLDR
This report documents monetary costs associated with five major areas of health problems in children that have been linked to preventable environmental exposures: cancer, asthma, lead poisoning, neurobehavioral disorders, and birth defects.Abstract:
A growing body of scientific literature implicates toxic exposures in childhood illnesses and developmental disorders. When these illnesses and disabilities result from environmental factors under human control, they can and should be prevented. This report documents monetary costs associated with five major areas of health problems in children that have been linked to preventable environmental exposures: cancer, asthma, lead poisoning, neurobehavioral disorders, and birth defects. We review incidence and prevalence estimates for these disorders, as well as estimates of the associated monetary costs. We apply the concept of the "environmentally attributable fraction" (EAF) of an illness, where EAF is the estimated percentage of cases of an illness that result from an environmental exposure. Preventable childhood illnesses and disabilities attributable to environmental factors are associated with large monetary costs. Our estimate of direct and indirect costs ranges from $1.1 to $1.6 billion annually in Massachusetts. Of course, there is no dollar measure of the full practical and emotional burden borne by these children, their families, and the communities in which they live.read more
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Priceless: On Knowing the Price of Everything and the Value of Nothing
TL;DR: Ackerman and Heinzerling as mentioned in this paper argue that cost-benefit analysis has been distorted for political reasons, especially during the current Bush Administration, and elaborates on the political implications of the continued use of costbenefit analysis.
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The environmental burden of disease in Canada: respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and congenital affliction.
David R. Boyd,Stephen J. Genuis +1 more
TL;DR: The burden of illness in Canada resulting from adverse environmental exposures is significant and stronger efforts to prevent adverse environmental Exposure are warranted, including research, education, and regulation.
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Progressive and Regressive Taxation in the United States: Who's Really Paying (and Not Paying) Their Fair Share?
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present an assessment of the distribution of all components of the U.S. tax system, including recent trends, and show that the overall federal tax system is quite progressive when state and local taxes are included as well, while most of the progressivity occurs in the lower half of the income spectrum.
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A Buddhist and Feminist Analysis of Ethics and Business
TL;DR: Nelson as discussed by the authors argues that a thoroughgoing Buddhist analysis, supplemented by contemporary insights from feminist theory, yields a relational understanding of business firms and markets that can help move debates about ethics and business beyond issues of scale.
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Medical practice and community health care in the 21st century: a time of change.
TL;DR: An investigative and aetiologically based approach to clinical practice is presented; a strategy that has resulted in physical and mental health restoration for many patients and community health applications incorporating disease prevention and health promotion are discussed.
References
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Intellectual Impairment in Children with Blood Lead Concentrations below 10 μg per Deciliter
Richard L. Canfield,Charles R. Henderson,Deborah A. Cory-Slechta,Christopher Cox,Christopher Cox,Todd A. Jusko,Bruce P. Lanphear +6 more
TL;DR: Blood lead concentrations, even those below 10 microg per deciliter, are inversely associated with children's IQ scores at three and five years of age, and associated declines in IQ are greater at these concentrations than at higher concentrations.
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Exposures of children to organophosphate pesticides and their potential adverse health effects.
TL;DR: A Center for the Health Assessment of Mothers and Children of Salinas, or CHAMACOS in Monterey County, California, will assess (italic) in utero and postnatal OP pesticide exposure and the relationship of exposure to neurodevelopment, growth, and symptoms of respiratory illness in children.
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Environmental pollutants and disease in American children: estimates of morbidity, mortality, and costs for lead poisoning, asthma, cancer, and developmental disabilities.
TL;DR: The costs of pediatric environmental disease are high, in contrast with the limited resources directed to research, tracking, and prevention, because the incidence, prevalence, mortality, and cost of pediatric disease in American children are high.
Journal ArticleDOI
Intellectual Impairment in Children With Blood Lead Concentrations Below 10 μg per Deciliter
Richard L. Canfield,Charles R. Henderson,Deborah A. Cory-Slechta,Christopher Cox,Todd A. Jusko,Bruce P. Lanphear +5 more
TL;DR: It is suggested that substantially more children in the United States undergo adverse cognitive change from environmental exposure to lead than was previously thought and primary prevention is essential in view of the lack of effective treatment for children with moderate blood lead elevations.
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Ambient Air Pollution and Risk of Birth Defects in Southern California
TL;DR: The authors' results are supported by the specificity of the timing of the effect and some evidence from animal data, and this is the first known study to link ambient air pollution during a vulnerable window of development to human malformations.