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Dr. Gauderman, Dr. Kim
and Dr. Goldman present sobering data on the effect of
pollution
on children's health and development.
The Crisis in
Children’s Environmental Health
June 10, 2005
10:00 - 11:30 a.m., 538 Dirksen
Senate
Office
Building
The
Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) invites you to a
Congressional briefing on The Crisis in Children’s
Environmental Health. The
youngest members of society – children are among the most
vulnerable to environmental health hazards. This briefing
will review some of the latest scientific findings on the
connection between air pollution and health problems in
children.
- 20
million Americans, including 9 million children suffer from
asthma. Air pollution may cause asthma not just
exacerbate it.
- Smog
limits the development of healthy lungs in children.
- New preliminary estimates from the
US
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) indicate that more
than 630,000 newborns each year may have increased risk of
learning disabilities associated with methyl mercury
exposure inside their mothers’ wombs.
Damage
to children’s health is a byproduct of the country’s current
dependence on fossil fuels and “end-of-the-pipe” standards
that fail to take into account the smaller body weight of
children and their unique routes of exposure. The
sensitivity of children needs to be considered while drafting
environmental regulations and setting national priorities.
Preventing illness and chronic disease in children will result
in substantial health cost savings and reduced absenteeism from
school. Moreover, initiatives that promote cleaner energy
and alternative transportation can provide long-term solutions
to protect children’s health in addition to other national
benefits including economic, energy and environmental security.
Topics to be discussed
include:
- Findings
from a ten-year study on the effect of air pollution on lung
development in children.
- A
review of recent scientific literature linking air pollution
to adverse health outcomes in children.
- A
discussion on the impacts of mercury exposure on children.
- A discussion of California’s Children’s Environmental Health Program and the
state’s efforts to ensure that air quality standards
protect children’s health.
Speakers:
-
W.
James Gauderman, Ph.D., Associate
Professor, Keck
School
of
Medicine
,
University
of
Southern California
. He is the lead
researcher of the Children's Health Study, a ten-year
multi-community study to examine the effects of chronic air
pollution exposures on the health of children living in
Southern California.
Presentation
Link
To Study
- Janice
J. Kim, M.D., MPH, Office
of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment,
California
Environmental Protection Agency. She
is lead author of the
American
Academy
of Pediatrics policy statement: Ambient Air Pollution:
Health Hazards to Children, December 2004. Presentation
- Lynn R.
Goldman, M.D., MPH,
Professor, Department of Environmental Health
Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of
Public Health. She served as Assistant Administrator
for the US Environmental Protection Agency, Office of
Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances from 1993
through 1998. Presentation
This
briefing is open to the public and no reservations are required.
Please feel free to forward this notice.
For more information, contact Theresa Murzyn (tmurzyn@eesi.org),
202-662-1884.
News
Article on Children's Health briefing by Congressional
Quarterly
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