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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Tracey J. Woodruff, PhD, MPH1, Daniel A. Axelrad2, Amy D. Kyle, PhD MPH3, Onyemaechi Nweke, MPH4, and Gregory G. Miller4. (1) Office of Policy, Economics and Innovation, United States Environmental Protection Agency, 75 Hawthorne Street(SPE-1), San Francisco, CA 94105, 415.947.4277, woodruff.tracey@epa.gov, (2) Office of Policy, Economics and Innovation, US Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Mail Code 1809, Washington, DC 20460, (3) Environmental Health Sciences Division, University of California Berkeley School of Public Health, 322 Cortland Ave, PMB-226, San Francisco, CA 94110-5536, (4) Office of Policy, Economics and Innovations/National Center for Environmental Economics, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, MC 1809, Washington, DC 20460
Children's environmental health indicators bring together quantitative information on health and environment for monitoring progress and trends in protecting children's health from environmental impacts. The US EPA, with UC Berkeley School of Public Health, has developed key indicators for environmental contaminants, biomonitoring, and diseases reflecting trends in children's environmental health in the US. Environmental contaminants indicators reflect potential exposures to outdoor and indoor air pollution, drinking water contaminants, pesticides, mercury in fish, and land contaminants. Biomonitoring indicators represent direct exposures of lead and cotinine in children's blood, and mercury in blood of women of childbearing age. Childhood disease indicators reflect adverse health outcomes that may be influenced by exposure to environmental contaminants and include respiratory-related diseases such as asthma, childhood cancer, and neurodevelopmental disorders. Overall, while many children's environmental health indicators show improvements, some percentage of children remain at elevated risk. Some key findings include: mean concentrations of children's blood lead continued to decrease through the late 1990s, though over 4% of children still have levels of concern; children's exposures to excessive levels of air pollution has decreased, though a high percentage of children are exposed to significant particulate matter concentrations; and many children are prenatally exposed to elevated mercury concentrations, as more than 10% of women of childbearing age have blood mercury concentrations of potential concern. These indicators are quantifiable and useful for monitoring trends relevant to the environment and children in the US. Views presented are of the authors and not necessarily of US EPA or other organizations.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Children's Health, Environment
Related Web page: www.epa.gov/children/indicators
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.