Page 5591 - Week 15 - Wednesday, 9 December 2009
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
is high in many countries. Over two million Australians have asthma. Approximately one in six, or 15 per cent, children are currently diagnosed with asthma. Asthma is one of the most common reasons for the admission of children to hospital. The number and severity of acute asthma episodes in children is linked to ambient air pollutants, and a number of studies suggest that both indoor and outdoor air pollutants can contribute to the increased incidence of the disease. Anaphylaxis is the most severe form of allergic reaction and is potentially life threatening. It must be treated as a medical emergency requiring immediate treatment and urgent medical attention.
Understanding the range of potential exposure sources is important in assessing cumulative exposure of single chemicals and exposures to mixtures of chemicals. In addition, there are many uncertainties about the health effects of exposures to chemicals. Although the basic battery of toxicity tests provides some information about reproductive and developmental effects, not all chemicals on the market have been appropriately tested for these effects. Where toxicity data does exist, much of it was generated from adult animal testing.
With advancing technology, new chemicals and lower levels of chemicals are detected in the environment, animals and humans. The health consequences of exposures to these very small amounts of chemicals are often not well understood. Subtle long-term consequences such as their influence on intelligence and behaviour have been shown for some substances in groups of children, even at exposure levels that do not produce clinically evident signs and symptoms of toxicity for an individual child.
Other areas also have implications for children, including the effects of exposure to a multitude of chemicals and the effects of chemical interactions with the human genome. In light of these and other uncertainties, new strategies are necessary to enable protective action and thus prevent irreversible long-term injury. This needs to be done even before full scientific knowledge is available or agreed upon.
We understand the importance of maintaining sanitary and hygienic school environments by being able to remove biological and other contaminants from the buildings’ interior. It is possible to choose less hazardous products that have positive environmental attributes, products that are biodegradable, have low toxicity, low-volatile organic compound content, reduced packaging and low life-cycle energy use and to take steps to reduce exposure to minimise harmful impacts on children, teachers and staff. By choosing less hazardous products, we improve indoor air quality and reduce water and ambient air pollution.
Other benefits of enhancing current procurement and purchasing practices for schools include the ability to buy cleaning products in concentrates with appropriate handling safeguards and reusable, reduced or recyclable packaging, which in turn reduces packaging waste and transportation energy. Buying less hazardous cleaning products may also reduce costs when it comes time for proper disposal of any leftover cleaning products.
In 1995, the United States Environmental Protection Agency established and continues to work on and develop the environmentally preferable purchasing program.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video