Defines chemical contamination and reviews data regarding the ubiquity of toxic chemicals. Describes major risk pathways to fetuses and children at different developmental stages and discusses evidence regarding exposure and harm to children from chemical contamination. Reviews the roles for social workers in protecting current and future…

The document maintains that the world is filled with health hazards and the best a person can do is to assess the danger of individual products, learn the risks, weigh the risks against the benefits, and decide whether or not to personally take these risks or to subject family members to them. This perspective begins in the home. This book…

Efforts in the profession to define the physical environment are described, and an outline is presented of four curriculum modules to integrate environmental hazards content into the foundation preparation of social workers. (Author/MH)

Health problems related to school buildings can be categorized in five major areas: sick-building syndrome; health-threatening building materials; environmental hazards such as radon gas and asbestos; lead poisoning; and poor indoor air quality due to smoke, chemicals, and other pollutants. This paper provides an overview of these areas,…

The quality of air inside the schoolhouses of America may have a profound effect on students' ability to concentrate on their lessons. The environmental hazards that influence the quality of the indoor air (IAQ) of our schools have not been well understood. Research evidence suggests that school age children and youth (especially those under the…

Employs the case study approach to show how the Reagan Administration's assault on environmental policies more adversely affects blacks and other minority groups than whites. Reviews recent research that shows minorities heavily concentrated in dangerous occupations and communities where the risk of exposure to toxic pollutants is greatest. (JS)