Sept. 7 — Warning that "toxic chemicals are bringing anguish to thousands of families," health activists on Thursday issued what they called the first state-by-state breakdown of chemical emissions dangerous to children and branded Louisiana, Texas and Tennessee as the dirtiest states. 

States ranked by chemicals and kids

Emissions put children’s health in danger, activists claim Clara Smith looks out her home at a huge petrochemical plant in Norco, La. Louisiana had the largest volume of toxins tracked in a new report

Representatives of the chemical industry, who said they had not read the report, defended the industry’s record, saying it is reducing emissions and spending $100 million to study the health effects of chemicals released into the air and water.

The rankings, by the Environmental Trust, Physicians for Social Responsibility and the Learning Disabilities Association of America, is based on data reported by industry and made available this year by the Environmental Protection Agency.

"This is the first complete snapshot we’ve ever had of toxic pollution in this country that can affect the way that children’s bodies and brains develop," Jeff Wise, policy director of the National Environmental Trust, said in a statement accompanying the report.

The industry data show that 1.2 billion pounds of chemicals dangerous to children were released into the air and water nationwide in 1998. Citing a 1989 federal estimate that emissions account for 5 percent of all chemical releases, the coalition said that translated into 24 billion pounds of chemicals released each year, enough toxic chemicals to fill railroad tanker cars stretching from New York to Albuquerque, N.M.

According to the industry data, Louisiana and Texas — both home to large petrochemical industries — emit the most developmental and neurological toxins into air and water. Tennessee, Ohio, Illinois, Georgia, Virginia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Florida are also major emitters.

The states with the lowest volumes were Vermont, Hawaii, New Mexico, Rhode Island and New Hampshire. The report also looked at releases by counties, and found that in most of those with the highest releases, the number of black residents exceeded the national average.  

The coalition acknowledged the difficulties in tying a specific emission to a specific child’s disability, but it argued that the data show Americans should be concerned

"Now we know what we have suspected for years, that toxic chemicals are bringing anguish to thousands of families in this country," said Larry Silver, president of the Learning Disabilities Association and a

psychiatry professor at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington. "These are families that worry, work overtime and go without to take care of a child with a developmental or neurological disability like mental retardation or learning disabilities."

Demanding better regulatory oversight of industry, the coalition cited U.S Census figures that show 12 million children — 17 percent of the U.S. population under 18 — suffer from developmental, learning or behavioral disabilities. These include mental retardation, birth defects, autism and attention deficit disorder.

The report further cited recent estimates by the National Academy of Sciences that at least 360,000 children have developmental or neurological disabilities caused by toxic exposures. The National Academy of Sciences report that provided those estimates urged further research. And a second academy report this year found a link between mercury levels and infant disabilities. 

The coalition report released Thursday cited the chemical industry, power plants and producers of paper, metal and plastics as the largest emitters of chemicals that could harm children. It also found that the printing industry is the largest source of air emissions of toluene — one of the most widely released developmental and neurological toxins.

"Because many printing facilities are often closer to residential areas than other industries, this industry and government should make greater efforts to switch to safer technologies that present less of a potential health risk to children nearby," according to Lynn Goldman, a pediatrician with the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health.

The coalition report was welcomed by the nation’s largest teachers union. "As the number of children classified with learning disabilities, hyperactivity and other problems rises," the National Education Association said in a statement, "it is critical to examine the link with increased exposure to environmental toxins." MSNBC environment coverage. 

Representatives of the chemical industry said that while they had not read the report, they had taken steps to study and reduce emissions.

"We’re already doing a lot of the right things," said Frank Rathbun, a spokesman for the American Chemistry Council. He cited a five-year, $100 million industry program to research health effects of chemicals and a project done in conjunction with the group Environmental Defense to evaluate 2,000 high-volume chemicals. Rathbun said that reports critical of the chemical industry too often ignore the benefits chemicals have brought to society through life-saving drugs and lighter, better products.

The council endorsed a related proposal made Wednesday to build a national health tracking network. The nonprofit Pew Environmental Health Commission raised the idea, saying it would help public health authorities better understand trends in chronic diseases. The estimated cost: $275 million a year, less than a tenth of a percent of the $325 billion that chronic disease costs annually in health care and lost productivity, the commission said.

"We believe data generated by a national tracking program can shift the focus from debate and speculation about disease trends to intervention and prevention based on scientific evidence," Sandra Tirey, a chemistry council spokeswoman, said in response to the proposal. "Too much time is spent on debating and too little time is spent on gathering factual information that can improve people’s lives."

But the industry also emphasized that what’s tracked should include other potential factors, such as viral infections, poverty and nutrition. "To be of the greatest value," Tirey said, "a national surveillance system of this magnitude must track not only ambient environmental exposures, but also other environmental factors that have an even greater impact on human health."

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