Environmental Health Perspectives Volume 108, Number 6, June 2000
Disturbing Behavior
Neurotoxic Effects in Children
Initiatives Toward Better Behavior
PCBs
In 1998, the EPA amended the Toxic Substances Control Act to streamline procedures for disposing of PCB wastes. The change was intended to protect human health and the environment against unreasonable risks from PCBs by providing cost-effective and environmentally protective disposal options that will reduce exposure to PCBs by encouraging their removal from the environment. The change also authorizes certain continued uses of PCBs and materials contaminated with PCBs where exposures can be controlled and where removal and disposal of the material would be costly or impractical.
Environmental Tobacco Smoke
The Children¹s Health Act of 2000 was introduced in May as an amendment to the Public Health Service Act with respect to children¹s health. The Children¹s Health Act contains provisions for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to collect, analyze, and disseminate data on prenatal smoking; conduct applied epidemiological research on the prevention of prenatal and postnatal smoking; support, conduct, and evaluate the effectiveness of educational and cessation programs; and provide information and education to the public on the prevention and implications of prenatal and postnatal smoking.
Alcohol
The Health Professions Education Partnerships Act of 1998 includes a fetal alcohol syndrome prevention and services program that would support educational programs for medical schools, social services, and educators, counselors, and service providers in all phases of child development. The act also provides education for school-age children, public and community awareness programs, and strategies to coordinate information and services across affected community agencies, and calls for research on appropriate methods for identifying fetal alcohol syndrome, effective prevention services and interventions for pregnant alcohol-dependent women, and a host of support services for people with fetal alcohol syndrome and their families.
Lead
President Clinton is proposing a $165-million, 10-year strategy to end childhood lead poisoning by eliminating lead hazards, strengthening enforcement of lead regulations, advancing research, and improving health monitoring and intervention. FY 2001 priorities include spending $120 million for grants and other Housing and Urban Development efforts to reduce lead paint hazards in low-income homes with children under age six, and spending $6 million through the EPA and the Department of Justice to increase public education and enforcement of lead-disclosure rules.
Mercury
For Toxics Release Inventory reporting starting in 2000, the EPA lowered the reporting thresholds for certain persistent bioaccumulative toxic chemicals, including mercury and mercury compounds. By lowering the existing threshold, the EPA aims to give the public better access to necessary basic environmental data about mercury.
Pesticides
On 12 May 1999 a group of nine national children¹s health, education, public health, and environmental organizations wrote to EPA administrator Carol Browner requesting that developmental neurotoxicity testing be added to the core testing battery used in the registration of pesticides. The group wrote that the EPA has developmental neurotoxicity data on only 9 of the 350 pesticides registered for use on food crops, even though many pesticides are specifically designed to attack the nervous system. In addition, the School Environment Protection Act of 1999, currently under review by a House subcommittee, calls for reduced use of pesticides in schools.
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Last Updated: June 7, 2000 | 
