ATSDR - Progress in Promoting the Health of Children [April 1998]

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry

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Promoting Children's Health
Progress Report of the Child Health Workgroup, Board of Scientific Counselors
1998-1999

This publication was supported wholly by funds from the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act trust fund through the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, Public Health Service, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The use of company or product names is for identification only and does not constitute endorsement by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, the Public Health Service, or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

FOREWORD

A healthy and safe environment for children is a vision we all share. The health risks posed by living near hazardous waste sites, however, are of particular concern for families with children because children are not simply small adults. Children are at greater risk than adults from certain kinds of exposures to hazardous substances emitted from waste sites and other releases. Pound-for-pound of body weight, children drink more water, eat more food, and breathe more air than adults. Moreover, infancy and childhood are periods of rapid growth and development, and the developmental process can be easily disrupted. While organs and systems are developing, exposures to hazardous substances can cause problems such as asthma, learning disabilities, cancer, and birth defects.

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) estimates that 1.3 million children under 6 years of age live within 1 mile of the borders of at least one National Priorities List (NPL) hazardous waste site. This is a large number of young children at potential health risk and their unique vulnerabilities deserve special attention to improve their health and safety. To this end, the President issued an Executive Order in 1997 directing all parts of the Federal government to make children's environmental health and safety a priority.

Prior to issuance of the Executive Order, ATSDR in 1996 launched its Child Health Initiative-the first such initiative by a federal environmental health agency. Under this initiative ATSDR funds new projects to benefit children and collaborates with more than two dozen nongovernment organizations. For example, ATSDR has written explicit child health guidance for its toxicological profile series and established pediatric environmental medicine referral units in regional academic medical centers. ATSDR's initiative has been cited by professional groups as a model federal program and has received a congressional mandate and funding.

A Child Health Workgroup appointed by ATSDR's Board of Scientific Counselors regularly examines ATSDR's programs to identify those aspects that could best serve the needs of infants, children, and youth. This progress report contains the workgroup's most recent assessment and recommendations for future directions. Their expert insights assist ATSDR in effectively addressing children's health issues related to exposures resulting from release of hazardous substances into the environment.

Jeffrey P. Koplan, M.D., M.P.H.
Administrator

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