"Kids and Chemicals." ARE WE MAKING OUR CHILDREN SICK? Coming up on NOW with Bill Moyers...
Friday, December 27, 2002 at 8:00 PM on PBS Channel 8 "Kids and Chemicals," a special one hour edition of NOW with Bill Moyers to be broadcast on PBS, Friday, December 27 at 9 p.m. (ET), features medical investigators and health officials engaged in the latest research on links between childhood illness and environmental contamination. The program looks at families around the country who are coping with the consequences to their children of potentially toxic exposures. The program features interviews with experts such as Dr. Phillip Landrigan of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City; Dr. Frederica Perera at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health; and Dr. Sandra Steingraber, a biologist at Cornell University; to name just a few of the researchers who participate in this documentary about the effects of everyday chemicals on the health of our children. It is a medical mystery marked "urgent." Across America growing numbers of children are suffering from asthma, childhood cancers like leukemia, as well as learning and behavioral disabilities. Scientists are searching for clues to the causes of these illnesses, and a growing body of research suggests that everyday environmental toxins - what kids eat, drink, and breathe - may put them at risk. Equipped with new technology and more sophisticated analysis, these scientists are asking compelling questions about the health risks to children growing up exposed to an ever-increasing number of untested chemicals in our environment. "Kids and Chemicals," a special edition of NOW with Bill Moyers to be broadcast on PBS, Friday, December 27 at 8:00 PM, features medical investigators and health officials engaged in the latest research on links between childhood illness and environmental contamination. The program looks at families around the country who are coping with the consequences to their children of potentially toxic exposures. "The disturbing increases in childhood illness in America cannot be ignored," says Bill Moyers. "How does the exposure affect children's health? The new research is studying how chemicals enter the human body, and posing questions that they could never ask before: Do chemicals affect children, babies and unborn fetuses more than adults? What factors increase toxicity, and how can we protect children from harm?" Moyers also reports on a proposed new project called "The National Children's Study," which will track 100,000 children from the womb to age 18 if it receives full funding from Congress. This long-term study may provide the definitive answers necessary for new regulations and laws protecting children from exposure to toxins. "Without conclusive science," Moyers says, "it is a constant fight to protect children's health." Find out more about how scientists are studying environmental toxins and join the ongoing discussion about the critical issues covered in NOW online at www.PBS.org/now.
