With the continuing shift of industrial activities in developing and transition economies, which often have poor regulation (and weak self-regulation of industries), additional global challenges regarding POPs and other contaminated sites may be expected. In this respect, a comprehensive application of the "polluter pays principle" in these countries will also be a key to facilitate the clean-up of contaminated areas and the prevention of future contaminated sites. The threats and challenges of contaminated sites and the high costs of securing/remediating the problems highlight the need for a comprehensive approach based upon integrated pollution prevention and control. If applied to all polluting (and potentially polluting) industrial sectors around the globe, such an approach will prove to be both the cheapest and most sustainable way to underpin the development of industries in developing and transition economies.

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Since World War II, approximately 80,000 new commercial synthetic chemicals have been released into the environment, with approximately 1500 new chemicals released annually. Most of these have not been adequately tested for their impacts on human health or their particular impacts on children and the developing fetus. Yet, children are exposed to hazardous chemicals through residues in their food, indoor and outdoor air pollution, and through household products and contaminated house dust. Many of these synthetic chemicals are persistent and bio-accumulative, remaining in the human body long after exposure. Developing fetuses acquire toxic chemicals that have bioaccumulated in the mother's body and readily cross the placental barrier. Babies are now born with many man-made chemicals in their small bodies. Newborns take in more through breast milk or formula. There are no tests to assess the combined impacts of the "chemical soup" to which children are exposed. WHO, UNICEF, and UNEP have reported a growing number of children's health impacts caused by exposure to hazardous chemicals, including asthma, birth defects, hypospadias, behavioral disorders, learning disabilities, autism, cancer, dysfunctional immune systems, neurological impairments, and reproductive disorders. WHO states that approximately 3 million children under the age of five die every year due to environmental hazards, and this is not limited to developing countries. All children, both in the developing and developed world are affected by exposure to hazardous chemicals. In 2004, the European Union's Ministerial Conference on Children's Environmental Health identified air pollution, unsafe water conditions, and lead exposure as the main culprits in the death and disabling of children in Europe. The conference found that by reducing exposure to hazardous chemicals, the lives of many children could be saved. The key issues in children's environmental health and potential policy and management remedies are examined from both national (Australian) and international perspectives.

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The paper examines the rise of environmental justice issues in Australia, evident in two toxic disputes; the first, in a Perth outer suburb in Western Australia where residents faced both a hazardous waste dump and the nation's biggest chemical fire; and the second, in the Sydney suburb of Botany where residents were confronted with the destruction of what is thought to be, the world's largest stockpile of hazardous hexachlorobenzene (HCB) waste. The paper reviews the range of factors that impacted the local communities' fight for environmental justice. It explores the limitations of risk assessment and risk-based policies, as well as the problematic role of the expert and the communication of risk. The informational inequity and resource disparities so evident in toxic disputes are highlighted. The case studies confirmed the inequitable distribution of chemical risk as a failure to secure environmental justice for all Australians.