Children Taking Brunt of Pollution

A typical resident of industrial Silesia, where air, water and soil pollution exceed all safety standards, can expect to live one year less than the national average.

Life expectancy throughout Poland is relatively short--65.5 years for men and 75.3 for women, compared to 71.5 and 78.3 in the United States--and has been decreasing.

A recent report says the situation is made worse in Silesia by the smog and contamination of locally grown foods with heavy metals and other cancer-causing substances.

Life spans have decreased more for men than women because of higher rates of cancer and heart disease among men, according to the report by the Institute of Labor Medicine and Environmental Health.

Infant mortality also is much higher in Silesia than in other regions, with 17 of 1,000 newborns dying in the first year contrasted with about 10 per 1,000 in the rest of Poland. In some other European countries, the rate is only 5 per 1,000.

Half the pregnancies in Katowice province are irregular or result in defective births, based on a study of children under age 4, said Irena Norska-Borowka, director of Katowice Medical University Hospital.

She said the children showed abnormal rates of cerebral palsy, epilepsy, birth defects and behavioral or psychiatric syndromes such as autism. The defects were found to be most common where pollution levels were highest.

The Institute of Labor Medicine estimates 50,000 children have more than 200 micrograms of lead in one liter of blood, a level regarded as an immediate danger to health.

Under a new lead-poisoning prevention system drawn up with the aid of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, children from polluted areas in Silesia are to undergo regular lead examinations and treatment.