The Price of Pollution in Michigan

The Michigan Network for Children's Environmental Health (MNCEH) and the Ecology Center this week released a report (PDF) estimating the cost of environment-related childhood disease in Michigan called "The Price of Pollution."

The report finds that the state of Michigan could save up to 1.5% of its Gross Domestic Product each year by protecting children from environmental exposures. The report estimated the cost of asthma, lead poisoning, pediatric cancer and neurodevelopmental disorders in the state of Michigan to be $5.85 billion annually.

Studies like this continue to point out a direct correlation between health costs and toxic chemicals in our society. In January, we reported on the Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families Health Report which made a clear connection between toxic chemicals and their health effects -- which include cancer, learning and developmental disabilities, asthma and other diseases and conditions -- which have an economic impact on our communities. The results found in Michigan can be extrapolated out to the rest of the country to show significant economic impact when we are constantly in contact with toxic chemicals -- in our cosmetics, our food vessels and in our children's toys.

In releasing the Michigan report this week, Aviva Glaser, lead author of the report said, "While the report offers only an estimation of Michigan’s annual costs of diseases due to environmental exposures, it shows the magnitude of how much these toxicants cost every year ... By removing toxic exposures in our community, we not only improve children’s health, but we can also improve Michigan's economic health."

Michigan health advocates continue to work hard to protect their most vulnerable residents from toxic chemical exposure. This year, they passed a ban against the toxic flame retardant deca-BDE (PDF) in all uses other than transportation and military. They have been working hard on the Healthy Michigan, Healthy Kids effort which is looking to protect children by identifying a list of chemicals of concern, phase out the worst of the worst chemicals, and providing economic incentives to corporations which foster a safe product environment.