Healthier People
Our Children and the Environment
In February 2003, EPA issued its second report on trends in environmental factors related to the health and well-being of children in the United States . The report shows trends in environmental contaminant levels in air, water, food, and soil; concentrations of contaminants measured in the bodies of children and women; and childhood illnesses that may be influenced by exposure to environmental contaminants. The report showed improvements in health areas where the government has taken strong action. There have been reductions in levels of: children's blood lead poisoning; exposure to environmental tobacco smoke; and exposures to excessive levels of air pollution and contaminants in drinking water. The findings in this report will help guide EPA's other future actions and measure future progress.
Through the President's Task Force on Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks to Children, Federal agencies, including EPA and the Departments of Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, and Justice have taken a number of steps recently to improve environmental conditions that have a disproportionate effect on the health of America 's children. These measures include public awareness campaigns on asthma and on the dangers of second-hand smoke, and the establishment of four new Centers for Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research. In addition, the Administration extended the President's Task Force on Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks to Children. The President's Task Force had made efforts to combat childhood lead poisoning its top priorities.
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