A Research-Oriented Framework for Risk Assessment and Prevention of Children's Exposure to Environmental Toxicants
Learning disabilities, intellectual retardation, dyslexia, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism, and propensity to violence affect millions of U.S. citizens and are diagnosed in an estimated 3% of all children born in the United States. The consequences of these neurological, developmental, and behavioral disorders are often tragic; their familial, societal, and economic costs are immense, and the resulting disabilities lifelong. Toxic chemicals in the environment--lead, polychlorinated biphenyls, mercury, and certain pesticides--are now known to cause some fraction of neurodevelopmental disabilities. The implications of this discovery for prevention are potentially enormous; developmental disorders of toxic origin can, in theory, be prevented through the identification, characterization, and elimination of toxic environmental exposures. However, serious impediments to prevention exist: too few chemicals are tested for toxicity to early brain development, knowledge of infants' and children's special vulnerabilities and unique exposures is scant, and paradigms for environmental risk assessment have only begun to address the hazards confronting infants and children.
To help address these issues, a conference was held at the New York Academy of Medicine on 24-25 May 1999 titled "Environmental Influences on Children: Brain, Development, and Behavior." The conference was organized by the newly established Center for Children's Health and the Environment (which is funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts) and sponsored by the NIEHS's Superfund Basic Research Program, the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and the University of Albany School of Public Health. The center, established in 1999 within the Department of Community and Preventive Medicine at Mount Sinai, works closely with the NIEHS/U.S. EPA Centers for Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research. The conference participants included environmental physicians, researchers in neurotoxicology and developmental pediatrics, epidemiologists, pediatricians, policy experts in environmental issues and public health, members of the advocacy community, and others interested in children's environmental health. The conference established a prevention-oriented framework for risk assessment and a research agenda for children's exposure to environmental neurotoxicants.
To assist in the translation of research findings into practice for pediatricians, a conference, "Pediatric Environmental Health: Putting It into Practice," was held 4-6 June 1999 in San Francisco, California. This conference highlighted the latest data and clinical case studies in pediatric environmental health. Presenters included leading practitioners, researchers, educators, and advocates in the field. The meeting was hosted by the Children's Environmental Health Network, and was sponsored by the NIEHS, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Environmental Health, the National Environmental Education and Training Foundation, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the Public Health Trust, and the EPA.
Last Updated: May 19, 1999 |
