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Washington StateThe Collaborative on Health and the Environment – Washington

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A Partnership Network for Environmental Health
Established and Coordinated by the Institute for Children's Environmental Health
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Environmental Quality

On this page:

Environmental quality is an important determinant of health. Key aspects of environmental quality that can affect health include:

  • Toxic chemicals in air, water, soil, food, and the built environment;
  • Climate change, including global warming and extreme weather events;
  • Urban sprawl, including land use and transportation;
  • Pesticides, including insecticides, herbicides and fungicides;
  • Microbiological hazards, such as bacteria, viruses, molds, fungi and protozoa;
  • Radiation, including ionizing and non-ionizing radiation, and electro magnetic fields.

Taken together, these aspects of environmental quality have been associated with many diseases and disabilities such as asthma, cardiovascular disease, cancer, reproductive disorders, birth defects, learning & developmental disabilities, obesity, and diabetes.

This clearinghouse contains sources and brief summaries of information on:

We have developed a separate webpage for information on each of these aspects of environmental quality. These webpages contain the information that is available for Washington State under each of the following headings:

Summary of Information on Washington State

In this section of each webpage, we summarize and provide references to scientific information on each aspect of environmental quality. The information is categorized into information available from national organizations (e.g. the Environmental Protection Agency), State organizations (e.g. Washington State Department of Ecology), local organizations (e.g. Public Health-Seattle and King County), and academic institutions (e.g. the University of Washington). We have included sources of information for the entire State, as well as for counties and cities, whenever possible.

Information on Washington State in Context

This section of each webpage contains a brief description of how information in Washington State compares with information from other states or nationally. In some cases, these comparisons were difficult to make because of a lack of information.

Quality of Information on Washington State

In this section of each webpage, we have assessed the information on Washington State. We have done this by considering:

  • How much information is available;
  • Whether time trend information is available; and
  • Whether information for different locations in the State is available (spatial trends).

In some cases, we have identified areas where there is room for improvement.

Within each of the environmental quality web pages, we linked all pieces of information back to their original sources, either via a web link to an external site or to a cited hardcopy document.

General Sources of Information

In this section of each webpage we provide general sources of information.

As you read through the clearinghouse's environmental quality web page, please direct any questions or additional information sources to kdavies@antiochsea.edu. We hope to update the environmental quality web pages with the latest information approximately once a year.

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