Links

The following list of links are to government agencies, environmental groups, and professional groups. The government web sites link many more. As with any internet resource, the validity of the information must be evaluated before application to a health situation involving children.

• The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)
  ATSDR is a Federal agency, associated with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that addresses the human health consequences of toxic exposures associated with hazardous waste sites and other environmental exposures. ATSDR has identified children’s environmental health as an important focus area. The URL above links you directly to its Hazardous Waste Sites and Children’s Health Page. You can also find a useful report Healthy Children -- Toxic Environments: Acting on the Unique Vulnerability of Children Who Dwell Near Hazardous Waste Sites, which was issued in 1997 by a special Child Health Work Group. Updates and other information are located on the ATSDR Child Health Home Page. There is a new case study in environmental medicine addressing the topic of environmental triggers of asthma in children. (ATSDR Case Study)
• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
  The EPA is the primary federal agency devoted to environmental protection. Its mission is broad, the protection of human health and safeguarding of air, water, and land. The EPA has placed a great emphasis on the protection of our nation’s children from various environmental insults, and has a special children’s environmental health web site (link above) has a section detailing the relationship between the environment and children’s health. There is a special page for Kids about environmental health "Explorer’s Club".
  
  Molds in the home have been a major concern to many parents. The Environmental Protection Agency has an excellent pamphlet designed specifically to answer many of the questions parents have regarding molds. It is "A Brief Guide to Mold, Moisture, and Your Home".
• The Environmental Protection Agency Office of Children"s Health Program
  This office was established in 1997 to support and facilitate agency efforts to protect children’s health from environmental threats.
• EPA Region VI Special Programs
  EPA Region VI (AR, LA, NM, OK, TX) has a special Children’s Health Page of interest to those within the region.
  
  Environmental Resources for Schools
  EPA plans a healthy schools program for the El Paso area in May of 2007 to focus on indoor air quality, chemicals in schools and asthma. See this site for more information as it becomes available.
• National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH)
  NCEH is a division of the Centers for Disease Control whose mission is to provide national leadership, through science and service, that promotes health and quality of life by preventing or controlling those diseases, birth defects, disabilities, or deaths that result from interactions between people and their environment. NCEH is especially concerned with vulnerable populations such as children and seeks to protect their health through science, service, and leadership. Of particular interest is a good discussion on childhood lead poisoning prevention and on the health impacts of mold.
• National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)
  The mission of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) is to reduce the burden of human illness and dysfunction from environmental causes by understanding the relationship between environmental factors, individual susceptibility and age. The NIEHS achieves its mission through multidisciplinary biomedical research programs, prevention and intervention efforts, and communication strategies that encompass training, education, technology transfer, and community outreach. This comprehensive site features access to the NIEHS online library, a description of the environmental genome project, the 9th annual report on environmental carcinogens, the Environmental Health Information Service, and many other instructive links. Of particular interest is the network of children’s environmental health research centers as well as a kids page.

• Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP)
  The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) publishes a peer-reviewed journal, Environmental Health Perspectives. EHP is available online and includes a special section on children’s health issues.
• National Library of Medicine (NLM)
  The National Library of Medicine released Tox Town, a site that introduces consumers to the toxic chemicals and environmental risks they might encounter in everyday life, in everyday places. Tox Town looks at facilities like schools, office buildings and factories, and the chemicals likely to be in them.
  
  The National Library of Medicine also released Household Products Database, a consumer’s guide in friendly English, that provides easy-to-understand information on the potential health effects of more than 2,000 ingredients contained in more than 4,000 common household products. For more technical information users can launch a search for a product or ingredient in TOXNET from the Product Page in the database.

• World Health Organization (WHO)
  This well known international organization recognizes that the world’s children are uniquely susceptible to environmental exposures both in industrialized and developing countries and has its own Healthy Environments for Children Alliance. This site details its global activities which aim to raise awareness on the subject and promote the recognition, evaluation, and mitigation of the main, emerging and re-emerging environmental threats menacing children’s health in all of its member nations.

• The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)
  This is the nation’s leading professional organization of pediatricians. The AAP web site contains a great many items of interest to children’s environmental health. A particular book "Handbook of Pediatric Environmental Health" is an excellent resource for pediatrician’s interested in the impact of environmental exposures on the child.
• Association of Occupational and Environmental Clinics (AOEC)
  The AOEC has established a network of Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Units (PEHSU’s) located in different regions of this country and in Alberta, Canada, The SWCPEH is one such unit. The URL provides linkages to other PEHSU’s.
• Asthma Coalition of Texas
  The Asthma Coalition of Texas is a not-for profit organizaiton funded by the Texas Department of State Health Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Its goal is to develop an asthma plan for Texas and, through its many committees from environment, to schools, implement asthma education throughout Texas.
• Asthma Moms
  This site was started by mothers of asthmatic children and serves as an excellent source of information and facts on the management of childhood asthma.
• Children’s Health Environmental Coalition
  CHEC is a national non-profit organization dedicated to educating the public, specifically parents and caregivers, about environmental toxins that affect children’s health. The coalition focuses on health effects from indoor environments such as homes, schools and daycare centers.
• The Children’s Environmental Health Institute (CEHI)
  This organization, founded in 2000 and based in Texas has presented numerous symposia on the impact of environmental exposures on children. The last one was the Fourth Biennial Scientific Symposium on Children’s Health as Impacted by Environmental Contaminants, held on September 16, 2006 at McKinney Roughs Nature Center, Cedar Creek, Texas.
• The Children’s Environmental Health Network (CEHN)
  The Children’s Environmental Health Network is a national multi-disciplinary project based in Emeryville, California, whose mission is to promote a healthy environment and protect the fetus and the child from environmental health hazards. The web site contains information on conferences CEHN has sponsored, together with some general information on children’s environmental health and links to other sources of information. A particularly useful reference is the report "Training Manual on Pediatric Environmental Health: Putting it Into Practice." This link is the entry into downloading the entire manual.
• Healthy Schools Network
  Healthy Schools Network, Inc., is a nationally recognized, New York based advocate for the protection of children’s environmental health in schools.
• The North American Commission on Environmental Cooperation
  The North American Commission on Environmental Cooperation, a collaboration between the environment agencies of Canada, the United States and Mexico has a special program area devoted to children’s environmental health. Check out this site to see what actions are being taken in North America to address children’s environmental health issues.
• Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR)
  Physicians for Social Responsibility is a national organization of physicians, one of whose focus areas is environmental health. PSR’s web site contains a section devoted to children’s environmental health.
• The School Nurse Resource Center
  The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, has recently established a school nurse resource center, a web-based educational program aimed at the school nurse. The SWCPEH is a contributor to the environment sections of this web site. CNE credits are available for school nurses for active participation in the program.
• Texas Medical Association
  The Texas Medical Association has a comprehensive report of the council of scientific affairs on "Black Mold and Human Illness" associated with Stachybotrys. Go to their site, click on search and insert mold. You will be taken to the document which you may download.
• The Watson Wise Medical Library at The University of Texas Health Center at Tyler
  The Watson Wise Library is the only medical library in East Texas and serves as a regional resource to medical information. Included are links to many free library search engines as well as selected journals available on-line.