CHE-WA's working group on Children's Environmental Health was thrilled to host more than 300 participants at its Northwest Children's Environmental Health Forum October 1-2, 2009, in Tukwila, Washington. A diverse audience participated, including healthcare providers, students, scientists, policy makers, elected officials' staff, children's advocates, local citizens and more. Elise Miller, national director of CHE, opened the event with a speech emphasizing the importance of scientific research on the environmental factors impacting our children's health and intellectual potential. Ted Schettler, MD, science director for the Science and Environmental Health Network, framed environmental factors in the broader context of social and economic stresses that together exacerbate children's ability to reach their full potential. Other plenary speakers shared the latest research on environmental factors linked to learning and developmental delays, autism, endocrine systems, and impacts that can be passed down through several generations in a family.
The second day of the forum focused on policy opportunities to better protect children's health. CHE-WA was honored to host Ron Sims, the new Undersecretary for Housing and Urban Development, and Martha Berger of EPA's Office of Children's Health Protection, offering perspectives on national efforts to protect children's environmental health.
Thursday: Science of Children's Environmental Health |
| Name |
Title |
Links |
| Introduction
|
Elise Miller, MEd
Collaborative on Health and the Environment |
Welcome and Introduction |
Video
9:53 minutes |
| Plenary Presentations
|
Ted Schettler, MD
Science and Environmental Health Network |
Overview of the Latest Science |
PowerPoint
Video
26:35 minutes
|
Using an ecosocial framework, this presentation describes the particular susceptibility of developing children to environmental variables and gives examples of effect modification. It also briefly addresses the role of developmental environmental exposures as risk factors for diseases that become apparent much later in life.
|
Bruce Lanphear, MD, MPH
Simon Fraser University |
Neurotoxicants, Learning and Developmental Diseases |
PowerPoint
Video
38:15 minutes |
There is growing evidence showing that exposures to both recognized environmental toxicants and newer environmental chemicals are risk factors for learning and behavioral problems in children at levels previously thought to be innocuous or safe. Collectively, these studies indicate that we need to revise regulations and reduce children's exposures to environmental chemicals and toxicants.
|
Isaac Pessah, PhD
UC Davis |
Autism and Possible Environmental Links: What Does the Science Say? |
PowerPoint
Video
30:00 minutes |
| Dr. Pessah presents recent results from the UC Davis Center for Children's Environmental Health and Disease prevention. He reviews findings about mercury levels in children: how blood mercury levels correlate with gene transcription and how persistent organic pollutants that possess non-coplanar chemical structures produce developmental neurotoxicity. He discusses potential relevance to autism and related disorders. |
| Breakout Session 1
|
John Kissel, PhD
University of Washington |
Children's Non-dietary Chemical Exposure: Is PLACE (Persistent Low-level Ambient Contact Exposure) the Missing Link? |
PowerPoint |
Children's non-dietary chemical exposures are generally attributed to inhalation, soil and dust ingestion, hand-to-mouth and object-to-mouth contact, and direct dermal absorption. The ability to quantitatively predict children's chemical exposures has historically been limited by the general inadequacy of the available datasets against which assumptions could be tested. Data from a relatively recent and large-scale study conducted by USEPA in North Carolina and Ohio that included capture of urinary biomarkers has been subjected to probabilistic analysis.
|
Chensheng (Alex) Lu, PhD
Harvard University |
Food and Children's Environmental Health: Pesticides, Food Additives, Organics and More |
PowerPoint
Video
29:14 minutes |
Despite many years of effort in implementing the Food Quality Protection Act (1996), monitoring and managing pesticide diet risks are still an ongoing challenge. A recent report published by the US EPA Office of Inspection General (USOIG 2006) has stressed the need for data-driven indicators of change in pesticide dietary exposures/risks for children.
|
Cindy Sage, MA
Sage Associates |
Electromagnetic Fields and the Risk to Children's Health |
PowerPoint
Video
21:08 minutes |
| The science and public health implications of chronic exposure to electromagnetic fields and radiofrequency radiation is presented. The inadequacy of existing public safety standards is discussed in relation to public-health concerns about the global rollout of wireless technologies and other sources of exposure. |
| Luncheon Plenary
|
Michael Skinner, PhD
Washington State University |
Epigenetic Transgenerational Actions of Environmental Compounds on Disease: The Ghosts in Your Genes |
| Transgenerational effects of environmental toxicants (e.g. endocrine disruptors) significantly amplify the impact and health hazards of these compounds. One of the most sensitive periods to endocrine disruptor exposure is during embryonic gonadal sex determination when the germ line is undergoing epigenetic programming and DNA re-methylation. The model endocrine disruptors tested were vinclozolin, which acts as an anti-androgenic compound, and methoxychlor, that has metabolites that are estrogenic. |
| Breakout Session 2 |
Catherine Karr, MD, PhD
University of Washington |
Climate Change and Children's Health |
PowerPoint |
Children represent a particularly vulnerable group that is likely to suffer disproportionately from health effects of climate change. This session introduces the basic concepts of climate change and children's health with a focus on regional concerns related to ambient air quality.
|
Larry Dunn
Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe
Nim Ha, MPH
Alaska Division of Public Health |
Seafood Consumption and Children's Health |
Dunn PowerPoint
Ha PowerPoint
Video
32:41 minutes |
Seafood is an integral part of the Northwest and Alaskan economy, culture, and diet. Larry Dunn, Lower Elwha Tribe, and Nim Ha, Alaska Division of Public Health, explain impacts on children's health and current research and discuss the complex and often controversial world of fish advisories, messaging and cultural issues rooted the world of subsistence diets.
|
Sheryl Magzamen, PhD
University of California Berkeley |
Outdoor Air Quality and Children's Health |
PowerPoint |
|
Tom Burbacher, PhD
University of Washington |
Biomonitoring, Body Burden, & Environmental Health Tracking |
PowerPoint |
| Afternoon Plenaries |
Shanna Swan, PhD
University of Rochester |
Endocrine Disruptors and Children's Health |
PowerPoint
Video
33:42 minutes |
This presentation briefly touches on recent evidence for threats to male reproductive health. It uses our work on phthalates and male infant development to illustrate why these environmental chemicals appear to be a serious concern for pregnant women, with some suggestions about how exposure could be limited.
|
Moderator: Elise Miller, MEd
Collaborative on Health and the Environment |
Science Panel and Q&A |
Video
40:13 minutes |
| Speakers: Ted Schettler, Michael Skinner, Sheela Sathyanarayana, Bruce Lanphear, Shanna Swan, Chensheng Lu, Isaac Pessah, Elaine Faustman and others |
Friday: Policies of Children's Environmental Health |
Ron Sims
Deputy Secretary, US Department of Housing and Urban Development |
|
Video
25:46 minutes |
| Michelle Pirzadeh, Regional Administrator, US Environmental Protection Agency, introduced Deputy Secretary Ron Sims. |
| Policy Presentations and Panels |
Panel One: Fixing Our Broken Policies: Children's Environmental Health in the United States
An interview with leaders influencing national laws and policies |
Ted Schettler
Science and Environmental Health Network |
An Overview of the Science of Children's Environmental Health and the Imperative for Policy Change |
Video
10:50 minutes |
|
Sarah Doll
Safer Chemicals,
Healthy Families |
Opportunities for Reforming National Laws through the Kids Safe Chemicals Act, Coordinated State campaigns, Market-based Campaigns and
Local Community Efforts |
Video
11:19 minutes |
|
Martha Berger
US Environmental Protection Agency |
New Opportunities for National Government to Protect Children's
Environmental Health |
Video
11:33 minutes |
|
|
Panel Two: Our Region as a National Leader: Children's Environmental Health in the Northwest |
Ivy Sager-Rosenthal
Washington Toxics Coalition |
Introduction |
Video
14:47 minutes |
Carol Kraege
Washington Department of Ecology |
State Government as a National Leader in Protecting Children's Environmental Health |
Video
7:48 minutes |
Pam Miller
Alaska Community Action on Toxics |
Alaska Native Biomonitoring and Children's Environmental Health |
Video
11:37 minutes |
Jamie Silberberger
Women's Voices for the Earth |
Montana's Experience and Engaging Women Nationally on Environmental Health |
Video
7:56 minutes |
Renee Hackenmiller-Paradis
Oregon Environmental Council |
Oregon Children's Environmental Health |
Video
9:35 minutes |
Jae Douglas and
Susan Woodbury
Oregon Public Health Division |
Oregon's Experience and Challenges |
Video8:57 minutes |
Dave Galvin
Local Hazardous Waste Management Program in King County |
Local Government as a National/Regional Leader for Protecting Health |
Video
4:38 minutes |
|
Policy Panel Q&A |
Video
34:30 minutes |
| Breakout sessions |
Karen Bowman
Washington State Nurses Association
Panelists: Steve Gilbert, Cherie Eicholz, Sally Watkins, Barry Lawson, Erete Bloom |
Health Care Provider Issues: Reducing the Barriers to Engaging Health Care Providers |
Bowman PowerPoint
Watkins PowerPoint |
Health Care Providers: Identifying barriers and facilitators in assisting health care providers in becoming environmental health advocates for children.
|
Jamie Silberberger
Women's Voices for the Earth
Erika Schreder
Washington Toxics Coalition |
Healthy Home Environments: Cleaning Products, Pesticides, Cosmetics, Dust, Green Building, Green Purchasing |
Silberberger PowerPoint
Schreder PowerPoint |
This presentation provides a brief overview of harmful chemicals in children's personal care products (e.g. lotions, bubble bath, etc.), and cleaning products used in the home and institutional settings (schools). The bulk of the presentation focuses on policy solutions at the state and federal level, as well as green purchasing in schools.
|
Charles Benbrook
The Organic Center |
Food as an Environmental Health Issue: Access to Affordable, Safe, Healthy Foods: Preventing Unhealthy Additives from Entering Food |
Video
28:31 minutes |
Dr. Benbrook discusses the reasons why the Pacific Northwest could take over California's role as the leader in advancing the quality and market penetration of organic food, if certain barriers could be removed.
|
Chris Hawkins
Thurston County Public Health & Social Services |
The Big-picture Look at a Community's Environmental Health: Healthy Community, Healthy Development: Transportation, Clean Air, and Walkability |
PowerPoint |
This workshop describes the impact of various efforts by local health departments to create activity-promoting environments for children and their families in the effort to prevent diabetes, obesity and associated chronic illnesses. The information will provide practical tips for local health and community/environmental planning departments to use in creating healthier built environments.
|
Renee Hackenmiller-Paradis
Oregon Environmental Council |
The School and Childcare Environment: Schools and Childcare Centers: Environmental Health Risks and Model Programs Overview |
PowerPoint |
| The first few years of a child's life are critical to shaping his or her future health. This presentation covers simple and effective techniques to make childcare facilities and schools as environmentally healthy as possible as well as policy that result in greater protections for all. |
