1997 Declaration of the environment leaders of the Eight on children's environmental health

The G7 Environment Minister's Meeting in 1997 released the following statement: 

We acknowledge that, throughout the world, children face significant threats to health from an array of environmental hazards. The protection of human health remains a fundamental objective of environmental policies to achieve sustainable development. We increasingly understand that the health and well-being of our families depends upon a clean and healthy environment. Nowhere is this more true than in the case of children, who are particularly vulnerable to pollution. Evidence is growing that pollution at levels or concentrations below existing alert thresholds can cause or contribute to human health problems and our countries' present levels of protection may not, in some cases, provide children with adequate protection.

Among the most important environmental health threats to children worldwide are microbiological and chemical contaminants in drinking water, air pollution that exacerbates illness and death from respiratory problems, polluted waters, toxic substances, pesticides, and ultra-violet radiation. Most of these threats are aggravated for children living in poverty. While not a comprehensive list, we have chosen items for action, enumerated below, because they can benefit most from collective effort by the Eight.