Webinar: Effects of Air Quality on Early Childhood Development and Health
Photo by Brittani Burns
The Harvard University Center on the Developing Child offers an on-demand one-hour webinar on their website on How Air Quality Affects Early Childhood Development and Health.
The webinar looks at the impacts of air quality during pregnancy and early childhood, with a particular focus on indoor air, where people tend to spend the majority of their time. The panelists explore a range of related topics, including better policies, pollutant-free products, healthier ventilation, and building materials.
The three panelists include:
Dr Lindsey Burghardt, Chief Science Officer at the Harvard University Center on the Developing Child and founding director of the Center’s Early Childhood Scientific Council on Equity and the Environment, who moderates the discussion.
Dr Alison G, Lee, MD, MS, Associate Professor of Medicine and Associate Division Chief in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital. Dr Lee holds joint appointments in the Departments of Pediatrics and Global Health, and is Chair of the America Thoracic Society’s (ATS) Environmental Health Policy Committee.
Dr. Joseph B.Allen, Associate Professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, director of Harvard’s Healthy Buildings Program, and co-author of Healthy Buildings: How Indoor Spaces Can Make You Sick - or Keep You Well. Dr Allen serves on Harvard’s Presidential Committee on Sustainability, keynoted the White House’s first-ever Indoor Air Quality Summit and, during the COVID-19 pandemic, served as Commissioner of The Lancet COVID-19 Commission and Chair of its Safe Work, Safe Schools, and Safe Travel Task Force.
The webinar offers suggestions for taking action in your own community to promote better air quality for children and their caregivers. The encouraging news the panelists have to offer is that often simple and inexpensive changes can make a significant improvement in building air quality.
Indoor air quality is affected by a number of issues from within the building, such as cleaning products emitting volatile organic compounds (VOCs), gas-fired appliances and heating, pet allergens, and chemicals that off-gas out of our furniture and floor coverings. Dr Allen notes that these issues are exacerbated by building practices over the past 40 years that have created ‘sealed’ environments in buildings that restrict transfer of air between indoors and outdoors. Pollutants from outside, such as wildfire smoke and vehicle emissions, still penetrate the buildings and become trapped inside. Because we spend so much time indoors (over 90% of the time for most adults and children), Dr Allen explains that most of the outdoor pollution to which people are exposed actually happens indoors, something of which few people are aware. Finally, there is what your neighbours are doing: Dr Allen notes that, if you live in a multi-unit building, it is likely that up to 30% of the air in your unit is coming from the other units in your building, including viruses, bacteria, or chemicals.
Dr Lee stresses the significance of exposure to air-borne toxins during the pre-natal and early childhood period when the body and brain are developing at an accelerated rate and can have a critical impact on organ systems and long term health. There is now a body of research confirming the negative impact of air pollution in this key period but there is also research evidence of the positive impact policies governing air quality can have on improving health outcomes. Dr Lee comments, however, that because of the plasticity of our bodies, even if a child has been exposed to air pollution in utero, improved air quality in early childhood can still improve long term health outcomes. She stresses that it is always more effective public health policy to prevent the onset of negative health outcomes than it is to treat disease once it has developed.
Dr Allen reviews the most common particles and gases that people are exposed to in air pollution, particularly benzene, formaldehyde and black carbon and their impact on organ systems, neurodevelopment, and mental health outcomes such as anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation and, as our bodies age, the development of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
The panelists also discussed the rising issue of wildfire exposure and the impact on children. Dr Lee has been part of a study group on child survivors of the Maui fires. For families directly impacted by wildfires, the environmental exposure issues are accompanied by extreme levels of stress. The interaction of different elements increases the impact of different elements that cause inflammation in the body. Dr Lee has explored this in her study of childhood asthma. Maternal stress during pregnancy has also been shown to be a factor in development of childhood asthmas; significantly, it has also been shown that lower maternal stress during pregnancy have lower impact from exposure to poor air quality that period.
At-risk populations are more likely to be housed in areas with more outdoor pollution, and they are also more likely to be housed in older buildings, with higher levels of pollutants, such as lead, in the buildings. The panelists argue for the value of policy development and of educational programs, in schools, early childhood centres, and community centres to address children’s exposure to air-borne pollution, and particularly to focus on where improvements can be made for those most at risk.
Dr Allen recommends as places to start the improvement of air quality in homes and schools:
Source control (e.g. low VOC paints)
Run exhaust whilst cooking
Improving ventilation
Upgrading air filters to Merv 13 filters (currently, he says most homes have Merv 8 filters, and many schools lower than that)
Supplementing with portable air purifiers with a Hepa filter
Controlling the level of dust in indoor environments
Monitor air quality (the cost of monitoring devices has dropped significantly)
Dr Lee emphasizes that effective policy can improve air quality for all children, which has particular positive effect for children in low income families who may have less ability to positively impact their built environment on an individual basis. For example, where communities have restricted wood-burning stoves and have offered financial support to change out heating sources, there has been a measurable reduction in childhood asthma in the community.
California has recently adopted a new building standard for air exchanges per hour (ACH), for example, classrooms may require 6 - 20 ACH, while computer rooms may require 15-20 ACH (concentrations of computers contribute to higher room temperatures and static buildup in rooms). Dr Allen notes that most current schools have been designed for 3 ACH, and homes for 1.5 ACH and, in practice, the ongoing operation of ACH systems in buildings often functions at a lower level than the design specification.
Dr Burghardt raises the issue of heat, and the impact of higher building temperatures in increasing the levels of pollutants suspended in the air. Lower ACH then becomes a vital issue as dust, irritants and lower oxygen levels impact energy, alertness and concentration. In cold weather areas, buildings are designed to retain heat. For example, a study of test scores in New York over time showed an increase in likelihood of lower test scores in schools during heat waves.
Dr Lee stresses the importance policy decisions play in the siting of new childcare and school buildings in areas that are shielded from high levels of air pollution and are designed with appropriate ventilation and using materials that minimize exposure to airborne toxins. She also recommends the development of health care regulatory standards that can be applied and considered in clinical settings, particularly in the treatment of pulmonary issues such as asthma, asking questions about air quality exposures.
Recommendations for a starting place for early childhood educators to take steps:
Education about air quality
Demand transparency about the building products you are buying (and not just substitution of a generic/similar product for a specific named regulated product - Dr Lee refers to “BCP-free” labelling on baby bottles as an example of this practice that ECE professionals may be aware of)
Avoid toxic chemicals in building products and furniture/flooring purchases
Advocacy for building management standards, especially a minimum standard of 5 ACH for schools
Advocacy for policy development by education and community governance bodies