EPA Celebrates the Sixth Annual Children’s Environmental Health Day

The following press release was published by the US EPA on Oct. 14. It is reproduced in full below.

WASHINGTON Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) celebrates the sixth annual Children’s Environmental Health Day, along with Children’s Health Month, highlighting actions to protect children from environmental hazards that impact their health.

“Protecting the health of our children and the environment where they live, learn and play is central to EPA’s mission, especially children in overburdened and underserved areas,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “As we celebrate Children’s Environmental Health Day, I think of the kind of world we want to leave for the next generation and the generations to come, and the work ahead of us to deliver justice and equity for all.”

In celebration of the day, Administrator Regan addressed the Children’s Environmental Health Network to highlight the significance and importance of Children’s Environmental Health Day.

EPA also announced its first-ever revision to the Policy on Children’s Health, originally issued in 1995. The 2021 policy expands the definition of children’s environmental health to include not only conception, infancy, adolescence, and early adulthood, but also the impact that early exposures may have later in life. This policy also reinforces the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to equity and threats to children’s health caused by climate change.

EPA is using American Rescue Plan funds to support underserved and vulnerable children through a network of pediatric healthcare professionals, cooperative agreements to improve children’s environmental health in learning environments, and to invest in improving its understanding of both the mechanisms of susceptibility and the benefits of protecting children through all life stages in the context of regulatory options.

Additionally, the agency has many programs in place to protect children’s environmental health. These include:

EPA will host a meeting of the Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee, a group of academics, practitioners, and other experts in children’s environmental health that provide advice to the Administrator related to children’s health, on November 2-3, 2021.

For more information: please visit: www.epa.gov/children .

Source: US EPA