Administration to Launch New Toxin Rules

The Clinton administration announced plans Wednesday to develop stricter standards for toxic substances, based on their effects on children.

In the past, acceptable pollution levels often were determined by studies of the general population. Environmental groups have lobbied for the adoption of child-based standards instead, arguing that children often are more susceptible to environmental toxins and are not adequately protected by existing regulations.

“We must meet the challenge of protecting our children from toxins in the environment,” said Carol Browner, administator of the Environmental Protection Agency. “An awareness of children’s unique susceptibility and exposure to toxic threats must guide every action we take to protect public health and the environment.”

The timing of the announcement, coming eight weeks before the presidential election, did not escape the notice of environmental groups and others.

“The report is long overdue,” said Gina Solomon, a Natural Resources Defense Council specialist on the environmental effects of pollution on children. “But if the EPA really carries this out, it will mean a whole new way of looking at how chemicals affect children.”

Children are more vulnerable to toxins because they eat more food, drink more fluids and breathe more air per pound of body weight than do adults. They also have weaker immune systems, and their behavior, such as crawling on the ground and sticking things in their mouths, exposes them to additional hazards.

The new policies would be put in place next year. The EPA would choose what it considers the five most significant public-health and environmental threats and re-evaluate them for children, Browner said.

Asthma, caused or exacerbated by air pollution, has become the leading reason for hospital admissions of children, according to the EPA report. And more than 1.7 million children now suffer from IQ deficiencies, impaired hearing and hyperactivity after ingesting the lead-based paint still in 64 million homes nationwide, the report said.