Pediatric Aspects: From the Embryo Through Adolescence: Special Susceptibility and Exposure

Abstract

It is a very special responsibility to open a conference with a title and mission as specific and important as this one. I would like to congratulate both the Academy and the Committee on Environmental Hazards for assuming the responsibility of bringing together professionals from a variety of disciplines to discuss an issue which is clearly of great and increasing importance to the children of our country. My presentation will emphasize several themes. Perhaps the most important, other than the need to protect infants and children, is the need for research. And it is a need for research which targets on specific vulnerable populations in our nation. I perceive that those with responsibility at the Federal and even the state level attempt to look at the environment as it impacts upon the population of our nation as if it were a homogenized whole. Those of us who deal with infants, children, and adolescents know that, in fact, this is far from the truth. So, my first theme will be research with respect to specific groups of children. The second theme is the need for professionalism and a broad attack on the issues. I think the need for professionalism becomes less important as disciplines become well established; as yet, environmental studies hardly constitute a discipline. It is thus exceptionally important that we recruit into studies on environmental issues those with broad and competent professional backgrounds. Our knowledge of age-related responses to a variety of chemical agents comes largely through study of drugs.