When children are more active, they inhale more deeply and may deposit pollutants deeper into their lungs than adults. Approximately 76 million people in Latin American cities are exposed to levels of suspended particulates well beyond maximum allowable levels. Poor indoor air quality is a major contributor to disease in the developing world, especially among low-income women and children whose families cook with biomass fuels. Exposure of children to lead and persistent organic pollutants is another particular concern. Children are also likely to be exposed to higher levels of toxics from agrochemicals than are adults.
Children are particularly vulnerable to health damage from some agrochemicals.
A child's susceptibility is greater between conception and age 5, before organ systems and other functions mature, such as the liver's detoxification potential and the kidneys' filtration potential. Because those body cells are reproducing rapidly, children may be especially vulnerable to carcinogens. Children of farmworkers are believed to be at elevated risk of pesticide exposure. Particularly in developing countries, peasant children may work in the fields alongside their parents, and infants are sometimes carried and breast-fed by their mothers while at work. Pesticide contamination of breast milk has been found even in remote villages in Papua New Guinea and India.