Welcome to the home page for the Children's Environmental Health Working Group!
Mission and Goals
Our mission is to work collaboratively with diverse groups to eliminate children's harmful environmental exposures in the Puget Sound region and beyond during their most critical developmental years: pre-conception to age eight.
Our Mission and Goals statement emphasizes the need for diverse groups to come together to identify gaps and overlaps in messages, services and campaigns, as each member group works to eliminate children's harmful environmental exposures.
Beginnings
In 2007, interviews with about 30 regional stakeholders showed the majority felt a need for a new group to meet and bridge the gap between environmental and children's health groups. Our first meeting was in December of 2007; we currently meet monthly in north Seattle. The working group welcomes new members.
Meeting schedules
- The full working group meets monthly on the second Thursday of each month from 9:30 - 11:30, in the Fremont area of Seattle. Contact one of the co-chairs for more information.
Co-chairs:
Julia Berg 206-263-3042 or julia.berg@kingcounty.gov
Gail Gensler 206-263-3082 or gail.gensler@kingcounty.gov
NOTE: The CHE-WA Children's Environmental Health working group is taking a hiatus from our monthly meetings during July, August and September 2009. We will meet on June 11th and will begin meeting monthly again on October 8, 2009. This allows group members to focus on the Northwest Children's Environmental Health Forum on October 1 and 2 at the Tukwila Community Center. Hope to see you there!
- Subcommittee groups meet on their own schedule. Current subcommittee groups:
Meeting notes
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Coming soon: Northwest Children's Environmental Health Forum in October 2009
This two-day event will showcase new research, current science and effective programs. Please see the Forum web page for more information.
Resources
Children's Safe Products Act Advisory Group on Washington State Department of Ecology's website. This site gives current information about meeting schedules and has much other useful information, including a handout on lead and cadmium laws around the country (see handouts from the July 29th meeting.)
http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/swfa/ruleChildrenAdvise.html
The Faroes statement: Human health effects of developmental exposure to environmental toxicants. Developed in May 2007 by a group of international researchers, the Faroes statement is famous for moving from "the dose makes the poison" to "the timing makes the poison," particularly considering environmental toxins and their effects on the developing foetus.
http://www.pptox.dk/Consensus/tabid/72/Default.aspx
The book Our Stolen Future brought worldwide attention to scientific discoveries about endocrine disruption and the fact that common contaminants can interfere with the natural signals controlling development of the fetus. This website tracks the most recent developments.
http://www.ourstolenfuture.org/
Hidden Hazards in the Arts, a presentation given by Dave Waddell to the CHE-WA Children's Environmental Health Working Group on July 10, 2008. The PowerPoint includes art materials used in K-12 classrooms (with an emphasis on the upper grades), their environmental health hazards and safer alternatives. (3MB PDF file)
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The Collaborative on Health and the Environment – Washington
