A systematic review of US state environmental legislation and regulation with regards to the prevention of neurodevelopmental disabilities and asthma

Using Lexis Nexis and other secondary sources, we systematically reviewed environmental regulation and legislation in the fifty states and the District of Columbia as of July 2007 intended to protect children against neurodevelopmental disabilities and asthma.States rarely address children specifically in environmental regulation and legislation, though many state regulations go far to limit children's exposures to environmental hazards. Northeast and Midwest states have implemented model regulation of mercury emissions, and regulations in five states set exposure limits to volatile organic compound emissions that are more stringent than US Environmental Protection Agency standards.Differences in state environmental regulation and legislation are likely to lead to differences in exposure, and thus to impacts on children's health. The need for further study should not inhibit other states and the federal government from pursuing the model regulation and legislation we identified to prevent diseases of environmental origin in children.More than 80,000 new synthetic chemicals have been developed and disseminated in the United States over the past 50 years. Children are at special risk of exposure to the 2,800 high-volume chemicals that are produced in quantities greater than one million tons per year and that are most widely dispersed in air, water, food crops, communities, waste sites and homes.[1] Rates of many common diseases are increasing in American children, and evidence is accumulating that environmental exposures are partially responsible for these alarming trends.[2] These illnesses include asthma,[3,4] certain childhood cancers,[5,6] certain birth defects, [7-9] and neurodevelopmental disabilities. [10-12]Federal regulation of chemicals that are widely dispersed into the environment through industrial and other activities has proven successful in the reduction of childhood disease and disability.[13] Reductions in exposure associated with the elimination fro