What’s Environmental Health? Lead, asbestos, smoke and other toxins can greatly affect your children’s health. Make sure you know how to identify potential toxins and how to find help to abate dangers within your home or at school.
• The Children’s Health Environmental Coalition (CHEC) is a national non-profit that educates parents and caregivers about environmental toxins that affect children’s health.
• Lead Poisoning Prevention Program offers information about the dangers of lead as well as resources for families.
• Be Safe is a program of the Center for Health, Environment & Justice. This website includes information about the hazardous effects of PVC.
• The Mercury Calculator is an effort to protect the environment and the public from the affects of mercury exposure.
• Parents for a Safer Environment is a local organization in Orinda and Lafayette that has information on toxic hazards in schools and day cares and offers non-toxic alternatives.
• Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit at UCSF offers information and resources related to children's environmental health.
• Physicians for Social Responsibility devotes a section of its website to pediatric environmental and health issues.
• U.S. Department of Agriculture presents its Food and Nutrition Information Center—a leader in food and human nutrition information dissemination since 1971. This site provides credible, accurate, and practical resources for nutrition and health professionals, educators, government personnel and consumers.
Teens Do Your Part for Climate Change and Children's HealthJoin with other teens to green your energy scene. You can make a difference to the planet, children's health, and the future. Use the tools on this site to get smart on how you can help and calculate your impact. Read more!
Ways to Protect Your Family From Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
Find what and how to purchase a detector for your home.
Asthma and Allergies and Their Environmental Triggersfrom National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)
Asthma and allergy attacks have increased in the United States despite the fact that our outdoor air quality has improved. Some researchers think these problems have increased because kids are spending too much time indoors.
When outdoors, we are exposed to pollens and dust, and other irritants. But when indoors, we are also exposed to "allergens." Allergens are proteins that originate from cockroaches, mold, pets, and dust mites (tiny bug-like creatures that live in dust). Allergens cause allergies—and most people know that allergies can make you sniffle, sneeze, have runny and itchy eyes, and other cold-like symptoms. But allergens can also trigger asthma attacks, which are more serious. Allergic asthma affects about 3 million children (8 to 12 percent of all children) and 7 million adults in the United States each year! Read more...