Welcome
 About the CEH Partnership
Beginning in 2000, EPA Region 4 Children's Environmental Health Program established a partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) through regional land grant universities to develop a network of professionals in children's environmental health. Eight states are currently involved in the CEH Partnership: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.
The principal objective of the CEH Partnership is to develop a network of local professionals, enhance communication, and facilitate collaboration within the partnership states to reduce children’s exposures to environmental health hazards. Efforts to reduce children’s exposure to environmental health hazards consist of a variety of educational outreach efforts focused on highlighting hazards, the effects of such hazards, and practical ways to protect children from exposure in home and school environments.
Purpose of this site
This site provides links to information, resources and research for the public on Children’s Environmental Health issues. We offer additional educational resources for professionals with login access provided through Children’s Environmental Health Partnership State Contacts.
About Children's Environmental Health
Protecting children from environmental risks is fundamental to making the world a healthier place now and for future generations. Children need clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, safe food to eat, and a healthy environment to learn, grow, and thrive. Yet every day, children are exposed to environmental risks that may stand in the way of these basic necessities. They may even be more vulnerable to some environmental risks than adults for several reasons:
- children's nervous, immune, digestive, and other systems are still developing;
- children eat more food, drink more fluids, and breathe more air in proportion to their body weight than adults; and
- children's behavior--such as crawling and placing objects in their mouths--may result in greater exposure to environmental contaminants.
Environmental risks to children include asthma-exacerbating air pollution, lead-based paint in older homes, and persistent chemicals resulting from multimedia exposures (air, soil, water) in a variety of settings. Environmental risks include cancer and reproductive and/or developmental changes. |
