A/HRC/43/30 insecurity, malnutrition and negative development37 and increases other diseases, including trachoma.38 25. Water pollution disproportionately affects children’s developing bodies because they drink more water in relation to their body weight, absorb a greater proportion of waterborne chemicals and spend more time in and around unsafe water.39 26. Developed and developing countries alike have failed to protect children from contaminated water.40 Electrical and electronic waste 27. Electrical and electronic waste, or “e-waste”, results from the rapid increase in consumer electronics and their end-of-life disposal. Electronic components contain toxicants, including those associated with mental and developmental disorders, lung damage and cancer, at all phases: extraction, production of components and processing of e-waste. Children can be exposed in their homes and communities, while working in the processing and recycling of e-waste or while accompanying their parents to recycling places. 41 The majority of e-waste is recycled in the unregulated informal sector and in poorer countries and results in significant risk of toxic exposure for recyclers.42 Pesticides 28. Children are particularly vulnerable to pesticide exposure because of developmental, dietary and physiological factors. 43 Children encounter pesticides when they breathe, by ingesting incorrectly packaged pesticide products, products for domestic use and residues in food or water, while in utero and through breastfeeding. Exposure to even low levels of pesticides disrupts mental and physiological growth and can result in lifelong diseases and disorders.44 Chronic exposure and exposure to high levels of pesticides are associated with adverse impacts on fetal development, fertility and cancer, among other serious health effects.45 Toxic metals 29. Lead’s ongoing prevalence in the environment has devastating consequences for children’s health. Children are exposed through former industrial sites, water that passes through lead pipes or solder, mining, lead-based paints and pigments, including house paint, solder in food cans and ceramic glazes. 46 Lead enters the food chain through contaminated water and soil. 30. No level of lead concentration in the blood is safe, and even relatively low lead levels may result in serious health problems, 47 impairing neurological, biological and cognitive functions. The neurological and behavioural effects of lead poisoning are irreversible. High levels of exposure in children attack the brain and the central nervous system, causing fatalities, coma, convulsions, permanent developmental impairments and behavioural problems.48 Pregnant women risk miscarriages, stillbirths and premature births, 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 6 Ibid., Inheriting a Sustainable World?, pp. 10–11. Ibid., p. 26. Ibid., p. 25. Submission from Human Rights Watch. WHO, Inheriting a Sustainable World?, pp. 88–91. Devin N. Perkins and others, “E-waste: a global hazard”, Annals of Global Health, vol. 80, No. 4 (2014), pp. 286–295. James Roberts and Catherine Karr, “Technical report: pesticide exposure in children”, Pediatrics, vol. 130, No. 6 (2012), pp. e1765–e1788. A/HRC/34/48, para. 24. Ibid., para. 12; UNICEF, “Understanding the impacts of pesticides on children: a discussion paper” (January 2018); submission from PAN Asia Pacific. WHO, Childhood Lead Poisoning (Geneva, 2010). www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/lead-poisoning-and-health. Ibid.