Up to now, women have generally assumed that they could help ensure the health of their children by being vigilant during pregnancy about what they eat and drink and about exposure to X rays, pesticides, and other toxic chemicals. Such short-term prudence will certainly protect the unborn child from many kinds of permanent damage, including the devastating neurological effects of alcohol. As discussed earlier, women tranfer this chemical store built up over decades to their children during gestation and during breast-feeding. Thus, it is critical that we as individuals and as a society make choices that reduce this chemical legacy that is being passed from one generation to the next. In the interest of the coming generation and those that follow, we must limit what children are exposed to as they grow up and keep the toxic burden that women accumulate in their lifetimes prior to pregnancy as low as possible.
Children have a right to be born chemical-free.