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Scientific Data and Methods
The Office of Children's Health
Protection
(OCHP) has been working with others both inside and outside the
Environmental
Protection Agency to improve the scientific understanding of
children's
environmental health concerns. Some scientific data and methods
project are as
follows:
Toxicity and Exposure Assessment for Children's Health
(TEACH)
Toxicity
and Exposure Assessment for Children's Health (TEACH)
is an EPA
project that seeks to complement existing information on health risks
to
children from exposure to chemicals in the environment. TEACH
will
serve as a
resource by consolidating children's health information from the
scientific
literature and improving access to that information through an
interactive
Web
site. The TEACH Web
site has two
main components - a searchable database and Chemical Summary Forms.
These components are used to:
- compile and summarize publications from the literature on early
life and
childhood exposure and health effects from selected chemicals;
and
- condense key findings from the scientific publications into a
searchable
format.
Sixteen chemicals or chemical groups which were chosen for potential
effects on
children's health are covered to date in the TEACH
project. These
chemicals
are: arsenic, benzo(a)pyrene, benzene, formaldehyde, manganese, mercury,
nitrates/nitrites, phthalates, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs),
trichloroethylene, vinyl chloride, 2,4-D, atrazine, dichlorvos, DEET,
and
pyrethroids (permethrin and resmethrin).
Indicators
The Office
of Children's Health Protection and the EPA Office
of Policy,
Economics,
and Innovation have jointly developed the nation's first assessment
of the environmental factors most likely to affect the health and
well-being of
children. The report, titled America's Children
and the
Environment: A
First View of Available Measures, presents
key
information about children's environmental exposures, biomonitoring, and
diseases that may have environmental causes.
America's
Children and the Environment: Measures of Contaminants, Body Burdens,
and
Illnesses (Second Edition) is now available. Drawing on
information
from various sources, the report shows trends in environmental
contaminant
levels in air, water, food, and soil; concentrations of contaminants
measured
in the bodies of children and women; and childhood illnesses that
may be
influenced by exposure to environmental contaminants.
America's Children and the Environment is modeled after the
publication America's Children:
Key
National Indicators of Well-Being  , which is
published by the
Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics. America's
Children includes indicators of children's health and well-being
in all
aspects of life, including health, education, and family life.
Research
The EPA National Center for
Environmental Research also sponsors individual research grants on
topics
related to children's environmental health.
- In April of
2004, the American Academy
of
Pediatrics' Center for Child Health
Research
published a supplement to the Journal
Pediatrics – The
Vulnerability, Sensitivity, and Resiliency of
the
Developing Embryo, Infant, Child, and Adolescent to the Effects of
Environmental Chemicals, Drugs, and Physical Agents as Compared to
Adults . The
supplement contains articles addressing the vulnerability and
sensitivity of
the developing embryo, infant, child and adolescent to the effects
of
environmental chemicals, drugs, and physical agents, including the
importance
of the stage of development and the magnitude of the exposure. EPA
provided
support for the Supplement.
- In October 2000 EPA released the Strategy
for Research on Environmental Risks to Children. The strategy
provides
a framework for research needs and priorities to guide programs over
the next
five to 10 years. The Strategy for Research on Environmental
Risks to
Children includes a stable, long-term, core program of research
in hazard
identification, dose-response assessment, exposure
assessment,
and
risk
management, as well as problem-oriented research that addresses
current
critical needs identified by
EPA Program Offices and Regions.
Exposure
- The EPA has developed a
Child-Specific Exposure Factors Handbook, which provides
exposure
factors
specifically for children 0-19 years of age. The Handbook summarizes
available
key data on human behaviors and characteristics that affect
children's exposure
to environmental contaminants, and recommends quantitative data values
to use
in children's health risk assessment. This document is currently an
interim
final.
- The National
Health
and Nutrition
Examination
Study (NHANES)
has published the National Report on Human
Exposures to Environmental Chemicals . This study used biomonitoring to assess
human
exposures to a set of 116 environmental pollutants. (Biomonitoring is
the
assessment of human exposure by measuring the chemicals or their
metabolites
in
human specimens,
such as
blood or
urine.) This study included
exposures to
children as well as adults. The study is becoming an annual survey,
so that in
the future it will be possible to determine how environmental
exposures are
changing over time.
- EPA hosted a national "Workshop to Identify Critical
Windows of
Exposure for Children's Health" in September 1999. The workshop
considered the importance of the timing of exposure to toxic
chemicals, and how
time of exposure affects the observed outcomes. Such information is
valuable
in determining when children may be the most susceptible to the
effects of
toxic chemicals in the environment. The workshop addressed effects to
the
respiratory, immune, reproductive, nervous, cardiovascular, and
endocrine
systems, as well as general growth and
cancer. The
conclusions
of
the
workshop
were published in the June 2000
supplement to the
journal Environmental Health Perspectives
.
Cancer
- EPA hosted the first-ever national conference on
"Preventable
Causes of
Childhood Cancer" in September 1997.
Approximately 300
scientists,
government
officials,
representatives of advocacy organizations and other members
of the
public participated. Health experts
presented their perspectives
on a
broad
range
of issues including
the special vulnerability of children to
environmental toxicants, studies on
the role of parental occupational
exposures, trends in childhood cancer, and methods used to study
environmental
factors in childhood cancer. A detailed research agenda and the
scientific
presentations from the conference were published in the June 1998
supplement of the journal Environmental Health Perspectives
. This research agenda is intended to
provide a
blueprint for closing gaps in knowledge, and thus for guiding
prevention of
childhood cancer.
Other
- The Office
of Children's Health
Protection
is a participant
in
the
World
Health Organization's (WHO) Task
Force
for the Protection of Children's Environmental Health . The Task Force's current and proposed
activities include: developing a manual on children's environmental
health;
preparing a plan of action for countries; providing advice on
specific threats;
preparing and disseminating training materials; and promoting research
on
emerging issues. Working with the WHO is a valuable activity
for
promoting
children's
environmental
health
science, since the scientific basis to
protect
children's environmental health is developed and needed around
the
globe.
The World Health Organization sponsored the International
Conference on Environmental Threats to the Health of Children:
Hazards and
Vulnerability
on March
3-7,
2002 in Bangkok,
Thailand.
The
objectives of this conference were to address new scientific data
and research
on children's vulnerability; discuss how to improve the current
health
conditions
of children; increase awareness in the health, education,
and
environmental sectors; and promote action on the protection on
children's
environmental health around the world.
- The
European Environment Agency
and
the WHO Regional Office for
Europe
have jointly developed the report Children's Health and Environment: A Review of Evidence
. This publication provides an overview of
the
available evidence of the relationship between the physical
environment and
children's health. It identifies both research needs and policy
priorities to
protect children's health
from environmental hazards.
- In December 2000 EPA announced the Voluntary Children's
Chemical
Evaluation Program (VCCEP), which is designed to provide data
that will
enable the public to understand the potential health risks to
children
associated with certain chemical exposures. The pilot phase of VCCEP
is
currently underway, and volunteers from the chemical industry have
sponsored 20
of the 23 chemicals listed for consideration in the pilot. The
initial phase
of the pilot (tier 1) is in progress for the sponsored chemicals.
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