A/HRC/33/41 cause of death of children by 2030. Asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases among children, with rates rising by 50 per cent every decade on average.21 Sperm counts and testosterone levels have fallen dramatically among men since the 1940s, suspected to be linked to endocrine (hormone)-disrupting chemicals. 22 These are some of the health impacts linked with exposure to toxic chemicals and pollution. 10. Some States have recognized these grave risks and are prioritizing the issue of childhood exposure to toxics. However, the issue is often reduced to a question of cost versus benefit, with human rights considerations divorced from and inconsequential to the equation. Prevention measures taken by States are increasingly outpaced by scientific evidence of grave impacts, the rapid acceleration in toxic chemical production and use 23 and inadequate chemical and waste treaties to protect children.24 With the melting of arctic ice as a result of global warming, toxics released by past generations but sequestered are increasingly being liberated and are entering the food chain and water supplies. 25 11. There is clear evidence that more precaution is warranted globally in protecting children from exposure.26 Despite tests being available to identify chemicals that may affect the health of children, tens of thousands of industrial chemicals have not been tested for such impacts. Furthermore, regulators assess the likelihood of harm from toxics on the basis of the exposure of an average adult to a single substance, not on the basis of real-life conditions, as children are exposed to multiple substances (that may result in combination effects) during sensitive periods of childhood development.27 Businesses implicated insist that exposure levels are too low to produce adverse impacts, without providing evidence of safety for children who may be exposed to multiple toxics during their development. 12. Most children whose lives are irreversibly or fatally altered by toxics and pollution have no access to an effective remedy. The burden is placed on children to prove that a toxic chemical was the cause of their injuries, not on the businesses that profit from these activities to prove that they do no harm. 28 The evidentiary burden is noted to be “very effective against the victims”.29 Even unquestionably toxic sites of contamination, whether from the dirty legacy of businesses or the toxic remnants of war, escape remediation and accountability that could prevent future human rights violations. 13. The economic costs borne by governments and the public, externalized by businesses to a large degree, are estimated to range from hundreds of billions to trillions of United States dollars for selected toxics.30 The use of lead in paint is estimated to cost lowand middle-income countries $1 trillion in health-care expenses, lost productivity and other 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 WHO, bronchial asthma fact sheet, No. 206 (2015). Submission from Denmark. UNEP, Global Chemicals Outlook. Less than thirty out of thousands of hazardous substances are regulated from production to final disposal under global treaties on chemicals and wastes. UNEP and Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme, “Climate change and POPs: predicting the impacts” (2011). Submissions from Italy and Denmark. See also European Commission Scientific Committees, opinion on toxicity and assessment of chemical mixtures (2011). European Commission Scientific Committees, opinion on toxicity. Submissions from Colombia and Denmark. Submissions from Denmark (noting that “the issue of causation for human health effects as a result of chemicals exposures is extremely difficult to establish, and only exists from sporadic knowledge following chemical accidents, occupational exposures and for some pharmaceutical uses”), from Sweden and from PAX and the Center for Constitutional Rights. Submission from Senegal. UNEP, Costs of Inaction on the Sound Management of Chemicals. 5