SAUL: Poverty has a toxic effect on our children

By Dr. Robert A. Saul, guest contributor  |  As a community activist and a pediatrician, I was incensed to hear about the senseless exposure of thousands of children to lead in the water in Flint, Mich.  It has been estimated that 6,000 to 12,000 children have been exposed to the heavy metal, lead, in the water supply.  Lead exposure can seriously affect development of the nervous system and potentially cause permanent intellectual disability and/or behavior problems.  It is sad to see such a preventable problem leading to potentially serious life-long consequences for our most vulnerable citizens.

Yet an equally serious (and arguably even more serious) toxin is “sprinkled” amongst too many of our children daily.  That toxin is POVERTY.

Poverty affects up to half of our children.  Nationally, about 21 percent of children live below the federal poverty level and close to 43 percent live below or near the poverty line.  And 37 percent of all children live in poverty sometime in their childhood.  The numbers in most South Carolina counties are similar.

What does poverty do to harm children?  The simple answer is “a lot.”  Children born into poverty are more likely to have a lower birth weight and higher risk of prematurity.  They are at greater risk for health problems early on.  They are more likely to have significant learning problems and a higher risk for impulsive, defiant behaviors that will lead to lower high school graduation rates and a greater likelihood of an encounter with the juvenile justice system.

Poverty also has a devastating effect on children when they become adults.  Recent scientific evidence has confirmed that children exposed to the adverse events that accompany poverty in childhood have a greater risk of chronic disease as an adult.  Diabetes, heart disease, hypertension and obesity often times develop because of the negative effects of poor nutrition, decreased educational exposure and decreased psychosocial nurturing that can occur in early childhood in the setting of poverty.  Many of these diseases that we deal with in adulthood, diseases that we call adult-onset, are actually adult-manifest diseases from the ravages of poverty in early childhood.  This latter point should be emphasized.  Many diseases in adulthood are actually established early on in life and only manifest in adult life.  They are not really adult-onset but adult-manifest from early changes to the developing child.

An additional component has to be considered in the exposure of our children to poverty.  Further scientific evidence now shows that early adverse childhood events can affect the fragile wiring of the brain in its early stages and can affect the expression of certain genes in the developing brain.  These changes in the brain and in future gene expression can be permanent and have a dramatic effect in how children process conflicting information later in life.  Children with these toxic exposures early on are more likely to have certain centers in the brain that are overactive.  These overactive centers are areas in the brain that if left unchecked will lead to troublesome behaviors and difficulties in school and in society in general.

All of the above information is supplied to emphasize a serious problem—a very serious problem that needs our attention.  The American Academy of Pediatrics recently issued a policy statement about poverty and child health.  This statement discussed multiple ways that we can work together to correct the devastation of poverty.  Our first task though is to acknowledge the harmful effects of poverty on children and families, only then can we band together and start embracing some solutions.

Dr. Robert A. Saul is a Greenville pediatrician and the author of “My Children’s Children: Raising Young Citizens in the Age of Columbine.” You can find a companion piece on solutions to poverty in the Greenville News here.  Have a comment?  Send to feedback@statehousereport.com.