TY - CHAP M1 - Book, Section TI - Chapter 17. Environmental Pediatrics A1 - Etzel, Ruth A. A2 - Rudolph, Colin D. A2 - Rudolph, Abraham M. A2 - Lister, George E. A2 - First, Lewis R. A2 - Gershon, Anne A. Y1 - 2011 N1 - T2 - Rudolph's Pediatrics, 22e AB - It is only in the last 50 years that diseases linked to environmental contamination have been recognized in pediatrics. Most environmental exposures now understood to be harmful to children were initially identified as a result of acute epidemics of illness affecting groups of people. For example, polluted outdoor air was not well understood to be unhealthy until the London Smog of 1952.1 An estimated 4000 people died from exposures to the very heavy air pollution; deaths were unusually high among the very young and the elderly. This led to the development of the first laws to regulate air pollution. Mercury was not understood to be harmful until an epidemic of cerebral palsy occurred among infants living near Minamata Bay, Japan, in the 1950s (Minamata disease).2 Between 1959 and 1972 in Iraq, seed grain treated with a mercury fungicide was accidentally eaten by humans instead of being planted in the fields, and thousands of Iraqi people developed mercury poisoning.3,4 SN - PB - The McGraw-Hill Companies CY - New York, NY Y2 - 2024/03/29 UR - accesspediatrics.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=6728274 ER -