A/HRC/37/58 the effects of climate change on nutrition will result in an additional 7.5 million children who are moderately or severely stunted, and approximately 100,000 additional deaths. 35 26. The ramifications of climate change for children go far beyond its effects on their health, as disastrous as those may be. As OHCHR has stated, “climate change heightens existing social and economic inequalities, intensifies poverty and reverses progress towards improvement in children’s well-being” (see A/HRC/35/13, para. 50). To give just one example, climate change-induced food insecurity is already increasing the number of marriages of girl children, who are pressured to marry to reduce burdens on their families of origin.36 4. Chemicals, toxic substances and waste 27. The 2016 report of the Special Rapporteur on hazardous substances and wastes describes the harms to children from exposure to chemicals, toxic substances and waste. He states that the number of deaths from air and water pollution is only one part of a silent pandemic of disability and disease, much of which may not manifest for years or decades (see A/HRC/33/41, para. 4). The rapid growth of hazardous chemicals in the environment has occurred together with increasing incidence of cancer, diabetes and asthma, among other diseases. More than 800 chemicals have been identified as known or suspected disruptors of the normal functioning of human and/or animal endocrine systems, and humans are most sensitive to endocrine disruption during periods of development, including early childhood and puberty. 37 Children begin their exposure to toxic substances before birth; hundreds of hazardous chemicals have been found in children as a result of their mother’s exposure, resulting in the children being born “pre-polluted” (see A/HRC/33/41, para. 5). He emphasizes that children in low-income, minority, indigenous and marginalized communities are at more risk, as exposure levels in such communities are often higher and are exacerbated by malnutrition, with the adverse effects inadequately monitored (ibid., para. 6). 28. Although the connection between exposure to a particular toxic substance and the harm to an individual is not always traceable, in large part because information about exposure to and effects of these substances is typically not required or provided, some effects are clear. For example, lead poisoning causes irreversible intellectual disabilities in 600,000 children annually (ibid., para. 9). Artisanal and small-scale mining, in which approximately 1 million children participate, commonly employs mercury, which causes lifelong harm to the developing nervous systems of children, as well as contributing to cardiovascular and other diseases. 38 Discarded mobile telephones and other electronic products are often shipped from high-income to lower-income countries. Children are often employed to extract valuable elements from these products, without protective equipment, exposing themselves to toxic substances such as lead, mercury, cadmium, chromium and arsenic.39 29. Another increasing source of harm is the use of pesticides, the subject of a recent joint report by the Special Rapporteur on hazardous substances and wastes and the Special Rapporteur on the right to food. They state that exposure to even low levels of pesticides, for example through wind drift or residues on food, may be very damaging to children’s health, disrupting their mental and physiological growth and possibly leading to a lifetime of diseases and disorders (see A/HRC/34/48, para. 24). The effects of pesticides and of chemicals ingested other ways, including through food, may include asthma, cancer and neurological damage.40 35 36 37 38 39 40 8 WHO, Quantitative risk assessment of the effects of climate change on selected causes of death, 2030s and 2050s (Geneva, 2014), pp. 80 and 89. Gethin Chamberlain, “Why climate change is creating a new generation of child brides”, Guardian, 26 November 2017; Human Rights Watch, “Marry before your house is swept away: child marriage in Bangladesh”, 9 June 2015. WHO, “Don’t pollute my future!”, p. 6. WHO, Inheriting a sustainable world?, pp. 81–82. Ibid., p. 88. Ibid., pp. 67 and 72.