America's Children and the Environment: Proposed new indicators of children's environmental health

Children's environmental health indicators are useful for tracking status and trends in critical environmental contaminants and related childhood health effects. America's Children and the Environment is U.S. EPA's compilation of children's environmental health indicators, presenting information on trends in environmental contaminants in air, water, food, and soil; contaminants measured in the bodies of mothers and children; and childhood diseases that may be influenced by environmental factors. Examples include: children living in counties in which air quality standards were exceeded; children's blood lead levels; and children with asthma. EPA is currently preparing a third edition of America's Children and the Environment, with updates to the indicators previously published and several new indicators. Knowledge of how environmental contaminants may affect children's health has grown substantially, and several new data sets have become available. Draft new indicators of children's environmental health address environmental contaminants in indoor dust; body burdens of phthalates, brominated flame retardants, perchlorate, bisphenol A, perfluorinated chemicals and PCBs; and prevalence of adverse birth outcomes, learning disabilities, autism and obesity. These indicators were selected based on consideration of: importance of the topic to children's environmental health; suitability of available data; and ability to summarize key data in a technically appropriate and understandable indicator. Indicators highlight changes over time, as well as differences by race/ethnicity or income in body burdens and prevalence of health effects. The updated America's Children and the Environment will provide a broader picture of children's environmental health in the United States by incorporating critical new information and data.