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Education Efforts Mark Children's Health Month By Cat Lazaroff WASHINGTON, DC, October 11, 2002 (ENS) - In honor of Children's Health Month, a variety of federal agencies, nonprofit groups and private organizations are hosting educational events this October on threats to children's health and ways to protect them. Several new websites now offer information aimed at helping kids, parents and teachers understand and prevent threats to children's health. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Christie Whitman was in SeaWorld Orlando on Thursday to celebrate Children's Health Month with local fourth graders from Windy Ridge Elementary School and to recognize the adventure park for its efforts to help educate children and visitors to the park about issues like sun safety.
Children are more vulnerable to pesticides and other toxics because they may play in areas where they are applied, and put contaminated objects in their mouths. (Photo by Keith Weller, courtesy Agricultural Research Service)SeaWorld will be focusing on sun safety throughout the month of October by incorporating information into its existing education programs, website and park map. Thursday was declared "Day in the Park for Children's Health" at the park."All during October, we are trying to make sure parents, teachers, and kids know about some of the things they can do to help protect the health of America's children," said Whitman. "By taking these steps, SeaWorld is showing what it means to be a good corporate citizen." The quality of the air, water and land has a direct effect on the health of families and particularly children. The EPA is focusing on children's health because children may be at greater risk from harmful environmental pollutants than adults. Children's neurological, immunological, digestive and other body systems are still developing. They eat more food, drink more fluids and breathe more air than adults in proportion to their body weight. Their behavior patterns, such as crawling and placing objects in their mouths, may result in greater exposure to environmental contaminants.
Students can be exposed to a variety of hazards at school, ranging from pesticides to lead paint to mold to toxic cleaning supplies. (Photo courtesy Ralph Bunche School, New York)All month, representatives of the EPA will participate in events calling on the public to help protect children's health. These events and other steps to protect children from environmental risks can be found on EPA's new Children's Health Month web site at: http://www.epa.gov/epahome/hi-childrenshealthmonth.htmThe EPA's site links to a multi-agency site: http://www.childrenshealth.gov that provides information on topics critical to children's health, including prevention of childhood illnesses, protection of children from environmental health risks, education and child care, safe cycling, child passenger safety, nutrition, parenting, infant mortality, mental health and more. Another new interactive website developed by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is aimed at helping children learn more about health and environmental hazards and ways to avoid them. "The Green Squad," from the NRDC in collaboration with the Healthy Schools Network, is intended to give children the skills they need to look out for and identify health and environmental problems in their schools. It is designed primarily for 5th through 8th graders, but also offers information for younger and older students, as well as for their parents and teachers.
Hundreds of children paraded through the streets of Manhattan in May in a march for child rights - which include the right to a clean environment. (Photo by Donna DeCesare © UNICEF)The Green Squad's tip sheets and various other resources offer kids useful ideas on what they can do to help improve their schools' environment."Kids are passionate about environmental issues, and we hope to give them tools to direct that passion toward solving environmental problems they encounter on a daily basis," said Rita Barol, NRDC's website director. NRDC senior scientist Dr. Gina Solomon added, "The site tries to do three things: help kids avoid hazards so they can be safe and healthy, teach them to think about the environmental consequences of the choices they make, and empower them by showing them how to change environmental policies of the largest societal institution in their lives - their school." With an interactive interface and the look and feel of an animated computer game, "The Green Squad" website is designed to be kid friendly. After pointing their browsers to: http://www.nrdc.org/greensquad, users are greeted by four animated kids in baggy pants, who lead them on an environmental tour of a typical school building.
Diesel exhaust from school buses can cause or worsen asthma symptoms. (Photo by Jack Weinberg, courtesy National Renewable Energy Laboratory)Children are invited to search for environmental problems and plusses in each room. Along the way, they have additional help from an "Envir-O-Meter" at the bottom of the screen - a sort of environment sensitive Geiger counter that registers high readings when a user passes the computer mouse pointer over an environmental problem in the room.When kids click on a problem, they can read a description of the relevant issue and then proceed to tips about how the problem might be fixed, and what kids can do to help. A virtual library compiling fact sheets and resources on the issues is also available on the site. The library includes links to other online resources, including the Healthy Schools Network's Kids' Page. "First and foremost the site will educate students," says Claire Barnett, executive director of the Healthy Schools Network. "We also know that the information and guidance it offers can have a direct effect on their health and learning. Too many schools in too many communities expose children to health hazards on a daily basis. By teaching kids - and their parents and teachers - to identify problems, we'll help them to be safer and healthier." Offline, kids can apply what they learn on the site to their own schools, using a printable progress report to track their progress learning about and checking for health and environment problems at school. A final score based on the number of fact sheets they have read in the library and the items they have investigated in the schoolrooms determines their rank as Green Squad investigators.
Lead from old, flaking paint can poison the brain, causing permanent damage. (Photo courtesy National Center for Lead-Safe Housing)The Green Squad's "Parent-Teacher Room" provides teachers and parents with links to other sites, in-depth overviews of health and environmental issues in schools, and advice on making schools greener and safer, often at low cost or even no cost.On Wednesday, a variety of New York's political leaders signed a Joint Statement on Children's Health, pledging to take action to reduce or eliminate chemical toxins at home, at school and in any other environment where children spend time. "We join together as parents, scientists, physicians, legislators, educators and other care givers to affirm our belief that all children have the right to safe and supportive environments which help ensure their health, development and well being," the statement reads. "We recognize that exposure to environmental toxins has been linked to a number of health problems in children, including asthma, cancer, certain types of birth defects and developmental disabilities; that children are being exposed to an increasing number of toxins in utero, as infants and as growing children; that due to various physiological and behavioral factors, children are uniquely vulnerable; that permanent adverse health effects may result from exposure to toxins during critical windows of development."
A young girl and a pesticide application truck at Putnam Heights School, Wisconsin (Photo courtesy Pesticide Reporting and Reduction Project)Senator Hillary Clinton, Long Island Representatives Gary Ackerman and Carolyn McCarthy, New York State Senator Michael Balboni, New York Assemblyman Tom DiNapoli joined a growing list of politicians, scientists and educators who have signed the pledge, developed as part of a public health symposium held at Adelphi University today.The Symposium, titled "Our Children At Risk," featured speaker Robert Kennedy Jr., an environmental lawyer, and keynote speaker Dr. Philip Landrigan, director of the Center for Children's Health and the Environment at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. |
