Source Vol 2

Protecting
our children is one of the Clinton Administration’s highest priorities.
In September 1996, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
released a report, Environmental Health Threats to Children, that
addresses how children’s health is directly and uniquely affected
by the environment. Also included in the report is EPA’s National
Agenda to Protect Children’s Health from Environmental Threats,
which calls for a national commitment to ensure a healthy future
for our children.

Why
do we need to be concerned about environmental threats to children?
Children are particularly vulnerable to environmental health risks
because:

Children are more
susceptible to environmental threats.
Their systems
are experiencing a time of rapid changes in growth and development,
including their immune systems.

Children are more
exposed to environmental threats.
They eat proportionately
more food, drink more fluids, breathe more air, and play outside
more than adults. This means that children may breathe in or ingest
more pollutants per pound of body weight.

Children are exposed
to different environmental hazards.
Children are
least able to protect themselves, and their natural curiosity and
tendency to explore leaves them open to health risks adults can
more easily avoid. When young children play outside or crawl on
the ground or floor, they are more exposed to potentially contaminated
dust and soil, lead paint, household chemicals, and other potentially
hazardous substances.

In
order to address the wide array of complex environmental threats
to children’s health and to honor the commitments of the National
Agenda to Protect Children’s Health from Environmental Threats,
the US EPA has created an Office of Children’s Health Protection.
Key activities will include: chairing a new EPA Board on Children’s
Environmental Health, reviewing and setting child-protective environmental
standards, researching and setting new policies on children’s unique
susceptibility and exposure to pollutants, and expanding community
right-to-know and education on children’s health.