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Public Health Week and Lead Prevention in Child Care

kristiet_a0o04rjz on March 25, 2022

Public Health Week & Lead Prevention in Child Care

By Kathy Attar, Program Manager, Eco-Healthy Child Care®

April 2022

National Public Health Week is April 6-12th and this year’s theme is “Public Health is Where You Are.” The field of public health acknowledges that where we live impacts health-especially for children, who are more vulnerable to environmental hazards like indoor and outdoor air pollution and lead poisoning.

Child Care and Children’s Health

The Eco-Healthy Child Care® program (EHCC), works to protect children and child care staff from environmental hazards found in child care settings. Millions of children spend 40+ hours a week in center-based and family child care settings–making child care critically important to children’s overall health and welfare. We know that for every $1 invested in child care, the return (in health savings, tax benefits, and other measures) is up to $12. Ensuring that child care staff have the education, training, and support to create safe and healthy child care facilities, free of environmental hazards, is essential. 

Lead and Child Care Settings

There is no safe level of lead for children. Lead can be found in the air, water, soil, and consumer products. Children are at high risk because their bodies are still developing, and their brains and nervous systems are more sensitive to lead’s harmful effects. These effects, including brain damage and loss of IQ, occur at low levels of exposure to lead sources often found in homes and child care facilities.

Recently, through private foundation funding, EHCC and its partners, the National Center for Healthy Housing and National Association for Family Child Care, established a network of family child care leaders the–Getting Ahead of Lead Leaders Network–to build leadership within the family child care field to tackle issues of lead poisoning in home-based child cares. 

The network is made up of racially and geographically diverse home-based child care providers, all of whom committed to an intensive series of virtual meetings and online and in-person training on environmental health.  

To learn more about how to keep children and child care staff safe from lead hazards in the home, visit the Lead-Safe Toolkit. Sign-up for Eco-Healthy Child Care®’s monthly eco-hot tips, to get science-based, low-cost best practices for eliminating environmental hazards like pesticides, unsafe plastics, and harmful chemicals found in many cleaning products.

Semana de la salud pública y prevención del plomo en el cuidado infantil

La Semana Nacional de la Salud Pública es del 6 al 12 de abril y el tema de este año es “La salud pública está donde usted se encuentre”. El campo de la salud pública reconoce que el lugar donde vivimos afecta la salud, especialmente para los niños, que son más vulnerables a los peligros ambientales como la contaminación del aire interior y exterior y el envenenamiento por plomo.

El Cuidado infantil y la salud infantil 

El programa Eco-Healthy Child Care® (EHCC), trabaja para proteger a los niños y al personal de cuidado infantil de los peligros ambientales que se encuentran en los entornos de cuidado infantil. Millones de niños pasan más de 40 horas a la semana en entornos de cuidado infantil familiar y en centros, lo que hace que el cuidado infantil sea de vital importancia para la salud y el bienestar general de los niños. Sabemos que por cada $1 invertido en cuidado infantil, el rendimiento (en ahorros de salud, beneficios fiscales y otras medidas) es de hasta $12. Es esencial garantizar que el personal de cuidado infantil tenga la educación, la capacitación y el apoyo para crear entornos de cuidado infantil seguras y saludables, libres de peligros ambientales. 

Plomo y entornos de cuidado infantil

No existe un nivel seguro de plomo para los niños. El plomo se puede encontrar en el aire, el agua, el suelo y los productos de consumo. Los niños corren un alto riesgo porque sus cuerpos aún se están desarrollando y sus cerebros y sistemas nerviosos son más sensibles a los efectos nocivos del plomo. Estos efectos, incluido el daño cerebral y la pérdida del coeficiente intelectual, ocurren con niveles bajos de exposición a las fuentes de plomo que a menudo se encuentran en los hogares y las guarderías.

Recientemente, a través del financiamiento de una fundación privada, EHCC y sus socios, el National Center for Healthy Housing (Centro Nacional para Viviendas Saludables) y la National Association for Family Child Care (Asociación Nacional para el Cuidado Infantil Familiar), establecieron una red de líderes de cuidado infantil familiar, el Getting Ahead of Lead Leaders Network (Red de Líderes Adelantándose al Plomo) para desarrollar liderazgo dentro del cuidado infantil familiar para abordar los problemas de envenenamiento por plomo en los centros de cuidado infantil en el hogar. 

La red está compuesta por proveedores de cuidado infantil en el hogar racial y geográficamente diversos, todos los cuales se comprometieron con una serie intensiva de reuniones virtuales y capacitación en línea y en persona sobre la salud ambiental.  

Para obtener más información sobre cómo mantener a los niños y al personal de cuidado infantil a salvo de los peligros del plomo en el hogar, visite el kit de herramientas sin plomo para el cuidado infantil en el hogar. Inscríbase en los consejos mensuales de Eco-Healthy Child Care® para obtener mejores prácticas de bajo costo y basadas en la ciencia para eliminar peligros ambientales como pesticidas, plásticos inseguros y químicos dañinos que se encuentran en muchos productos de limpieza.

New California Laws Make Food Packaging & Children’s Products Safer

kristiet_a0o04rjz on October 21, 2021

New California Laws Make Food Packaging & Children’s Products Safer

By Kathy Attar, Program Manager, Eco-Healthy Child Care®

November 2021

In October, California enacted several laws that will ban the use of toxic “forever chemicals” in children’s products and disposable food packaging. This is a win for the environment and children’s health!

Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of toxic chemicals linked to kidney, liver, developmental, and reproductive issues. These chemicals contaminate waterways via firefighting foam and are primary ingredients in household products like nonstick pans, toys, makeup, fast-food containers, and waterproof apparel.

They are known as “forever chemicals” because they do not break down in the environment and build up in the blood and organs.

Food is considered a major source of exposure to PFAS. Because PFAS coating on infant car seats and bedding wear off with time, the toxicants can get into dust that children might inhale, making contaminated children’s products another exposure avenue.

The California laws (AB 1200 and AB 652) ban PFAS from paper, paperboard (or plant-based food packaging), utensils, and paper straws, effective January 1, 2023. They also prohibit the use of PFAS in children’s products, such as car seats and cribs, beginning on July 1, 2023.

The laws require manufacturers to label cookware that contains toxic chemicals on product handles or coatings, starting January 1, 2024. And, beginning in 2023, manufacturers will also have to make public on their websites a list of harmful chemicals present in their pots, pans, and other cookware.

The California laws follow Connecticut, Maine, Minnesota, New York, Vermont, and Washington in the list of states banning PFAS from food packaging.

To reduce your exposure to PFAS chemicals in food packaging immediately you can:

  • Avoid microwave popcorn and greasy foods wrapped in paper.
  • Take fast food out of its wrapper or containers as soon as possible.
  • Transfer food to glass, porcelain, or microwave-safe pottery plates before heating leftovers in the microwave.

For more Eco-Healthy Child Care® tips take our Protecting Children’s Environmental Health e-course. Child care professionals can receive adult learning clock hours for completing the course.

Las nuevas leyes de California hacen que el envasado de alimentos y los productos para niños sean más seguros

En octubre, California promulgó varias leyes que prohibirán el uso de “químicos permanentes” tóxicos en productos para niños y envases de alimentos desechables. ¡Esta es una victoria para el medio ambiente y la salud de los niños!

Las sustancias perfluoroalquilo y polifluoroalquilo (PFAS) son un grupo de sustancias químicas tóxicas relacionadas con problemas renales, hepáticos, de desarrollo y reproductivos. Estos productos químicos contaminan las vías fluviales a través de la espuma contra incendios y son ingredientes principales en productos domésticos como sartenes antiadherentes, juguetes, maquillaje, recipientes de comida rápida y ropa impermeable.

Se les conoce como “sustancias químicas permanentes” porque no se degradan en el medio ambiente ni se acumulan en la sangre y los órganos.

Los alimentos se consideran una fuente importante de exposición al PFAS. Debido a que el recubrimiento de PFAS en los asientos de automóvil para bebés y la ropa de cama se desgasta con el tiempo, los tóxicos pueden entrar en el polvo que los niños podrían inhalar, lo que hace que los productos para niños contaminados sean otra vía de exposición.

Las leyes de California (AB 1200 y AB 652) prohíben el PFAS en papel, cartón (o envases de alimentos a base de plantas), utensilios y pajitas de papel, a partir del 1 de enero de 2023. También prohíben el uso de PFAS en productos para infatiles, como asientos de automóvil y cunas, a partir del 1 de julio de 2023.

Las leyes requieren que los fabricantes etiqueten los utensilios de cocina que contienen químicos tóxicos en las manijas o revestimientos de los productos, a partir del 1 de enero de 2024. Y, a partir de 2023, los fabricantes también tendrán que hacer pública en sus sitios web una lista de productos químicos nocivos presentes en sus ollas, sartenes y otros utensilios de cocina.

Las leyes de California siguen a Connecticut, Maine, Minnesota, Nueva York, Vermont y Washington en la lista de estados que prohíben los PFAS en el envasado de alimentos.

Para reducir su exposición a los productos químicos PFAS en los envases de alimentos inmediatamente, puede:

  • Evitar las palomitas de maíz para microondas y los alimentos grasosos envueltos en papel.
  • Saque la comida rápida de su envoltorio o envases lo antes posible.
  • Transfiera los alimentos a platos de vidrio, porcelana o cerámica aptos para microondas antes de calentar las sobras en el microondas.

Para más consejos de Eco-Healthy Child Care® tome nuestro curso electrónico Protección de la salud ambiental de los niños. Los profesionales del cuidado infantil pueden recibir horas de aprendizaje para adultos

February is National Cancer Prevention Month

kristiet_a0o04rjz on February 18, 2021

February is National Cancer Prevention Month

By Kathy Attar, MPH, Engagement Manager, Eco-Healthy Child Care®

Cancer is the leading cause of death by disease among children in the U.S. Reducing children’s exposure to harmful chemicals like pesticides can help lower their risk of getting cancer.⁠

Children may be exposed to pesticides by: playing on treated floors, lawns, and play structures; eating pesticide-treated foods; or drinking contaminated water. When pesticides are applied indoors as a spray or aerosol, small droplets can end up on carpets, floors, toys and other surfaces. Children then come into contact with these droplets by crawling or mouthing objects.

To lower pesticide exposures and control pests in your child care facility use Integrated pest management (IPM). ⁠IPM is an effective, environmentally sensitive and affordable strategy to control pests and weeds. IPM uses pest prevention practices like eliminating food and water sources and blocking entryways as ways to reduce chemical pesticide use. IPM gives you the tools to create your own plan of action.⁠

Many pesticides can take a very long time to break down. They can persist indoors for weeks on furniture, toys and other surfaces and for years in household dust. Pesticide levels in indoor air are often higher than those found in outdoor air.

Find out more information about IPM and pesticide exposures in EHCC’s newly updated pesticides fact sheet.⁠

To protect ALL children’s health, we must move beyond individual changes towards broader systems change. Our learning, health, and work sectors must adopt practices and policies to reduce toxic chemicals exposures.  

A 30%+ increase in the rate of childhood cancer diagnoses since 1975, has led scientists, health professionals, businesses, and advocates to form The Childhood Cancer Prevention Initiative whose goal is to highlight the link between environmental factors and children’s health and bring about cross-sector policy change. 

The Initiative released a new report: Childhood Cancer: Cross-Sector Strategies for Prevention that calls for the establishment of a National Childhood Cancer Prevention Research Agenda and National Childhood Cancer Prevention Plan to eradicate toxic chemicals linked to childhood cancers.

You can help make a change by supporting The Childhood Cancer Prevention Initiative–sign their letter of support today! ⁠

Celebrating 48 Years of the Clean Water Act

kristiet_a0o04rjz on October 22, 2020

Celebrating 48 Years of the Clean Water Act

October 18th marked the 48th anniversary of the Clean Water Act. The Clean Water Act was a long-awaited reaction to the irresponsible dumping of pollution into our waterways. When the Act was passed, nearly  two-thirds of the country’s lakes, rivers and coastal waters had become unsafe, polluted with untreated sewage, oil, trash, chemicals, and other industrial waste. 

As we celebrate this anniversary, it is also a rallying call to protect the progress made so far, and to hold our elected officials accountable. Even today, 39% of American rivers, 45% of our lakes, and 51% of the estuaries monitored in the US are contaminated. In fact, the current administration has continued to work relentlessly to undermine the protections provided by the Clean Water Act for the past 48 years. They have rolled back vital safeguards and given corporate polluters access to wage an assault on our public health and safety.

Clean water is fundamental to public health. This year, in the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic, clean water has become even more central to protecting our nation’s health. Just as black and brown communities have borne the brunt of COVID-19, low income communities and communities of color are often disproportionately impacted by polluted water. These communities are also the ones most immediately impacted by climate change, which poses an increasing threat to our water sources.

Water equity, just like health equity, matters. The ability to access safe water for drinking, cleaning, cooking, and enjoying is absolutely necessary to cultivate happy, healthy communities,  where all are able to thrive and reach their full potential. Access to clean water is a fundamental right that every child in this country should be afforded. Our leaders have a moral obligation to protect and uphold this right. We cannot hope to accomplish justice for all if we do not protect safeguards for the water on which our communities and our children depend, like the Clean Water Act.

Children are especially vulnerable to environmental hazards like water pollution. Their bodies are still developing, so a smaller dose of a pollutant can have a bigger impact than on an adult and can have long-lasting physical and mental impacts on a child’s life course. For instance, childhood lead exposure from polluted water sources can damage a child’s brain and nervous system, slow their growth and development, and cause learning and behavior problems and lowered IQ. 

Much like our water sources, our children are some of our most valuable resources, yet their health and that of their families and communities have not been at the forefront of our nation’s policies and programs. The Children’s Environmental Health Network’s 2020 Voter Guide helps engaged citizens assess their local, state, and federal candidates’ commitment to five key issues: Children’s Health and Equity, Climate Action, Clean Air, Clean Water, and Toxic-free Environments and Products. 

The 2020 elections offer an opportunity to reset our national, state, and local priorities and to put children’s health and their environment at the center of decision-making, including prioritizing clean water for all. Please use this resource as you go to the polls this fall, and share it widely, especially with those who may not be familiar with water quality and children’s environmental health issues. Let’s celebrate the Clean Water Act’s anniversary by uniting at the polls for equity, and a clean and healthy environment for ALL children!

Eco-Healthy’s Message is in Demand!

kristiet_a0o04rjz on June 18, 2020

Eco-Healthy’s Message is in Demand!

By Kathy Attar, Engagement Manager, Eco-Healthy Child Care®

In May, we presented our eco-healthy curriculum for the first time to child care providers and other child care professionals via a new partnership with the National Center on Early Childhood Health and Wellness. The Center targets child care programs serving high-risk, low-income children from birth to age 5, as well as pregnant women. 

The Center is a collaboration of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development, National Maternal and Child Oral Health Resource Center, Education Development Center, Inc., and Health Care Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles and is jointly administered by the Administration for Children and Families, Office of Head Start in partnership with the Office of Child Care.

The overwhelming interest from child care professionals in how to create and maintain healthier and eco-friendly child care settings is apparent! We had over 7,000 folks register for the May webinar. The webinar was recorded–please check it out and share widely with your networks!

Reaching child care providers who serve low-income communities and communities of color is a priority for the Eco-Healthy Child Care® program. We know that health disparities exist–-rates of asthma, obesity, childhood cancer and certain learning disabilities are higher amongst poorer children and children of color. The science linking poor health to exposure to environmental hazards is strong and continues to grow. The data also shows that underserved and at-risk populations have greater exposures to environmental hazards like dirty air, unsafe water and harmful chemicals in consumer products. 

Greatly reducing exposures to known environmental hazards within early learning settings can help protect the health of our most vulnerable children. Increasing awareness amongst child care providers about the link between unsafe plastics, pesticides and harmful chemicals found in cleaning supplies is a first step towards changing practices and creating safer child care settings. 

Eco-Healthy Child Care® has played a key role in incorporating environmental health and safety best practices into the National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care and Early Education (NRC) Caring for Our Children (CFOC) standards. EHCC seeks to also partner with the Administration for Children and Families, Office of Head Start to change child care guidelines within Head Start and Early Head Start programs. Incorporating environmental health best practices from our eco-healthy checklist into these guidelines will create longer-term and farther-reaching change for some of our nation’s most vulnerable children.

Are you wanting to increase your knowledge and awareness of eco-healthy best practices? Check out our free Fact-Sheets, FAQs and Checklist!

Behind the Scenes: How Partnerships Elevate the Impactfulness of Our Work

kristiet_a0o04rjz on May 11, 2020

Behind the Scenes: How Partnerships Elevate the Impactfulness of Our Work 

By Hester Paul, National Director, Eco-Healthy Child Care®

We are a small national non-profit organization dedicated to protecting the environmental health of all children. The world of child care is enormous and nebulous. Each county or state has its own playbook on how to regulate and license local child care programs. To make things more challenging, there are many types of child care or early care and learning environments in every county and state, including: center-based child care, home-based child care, Head Start facilities and Early Head Start programs for example. In order to influence and make change, the Eco-Healthy Child Care® program must be strategic and collaborative. We greatly value our partners.

Working with groups that are a part of or represent our most vulnerable communities–children, communities of color and low-income communities–is key to ensuring the solutions we craft are equitable, address the root causes of problems and can reach our intended audience.

In May of this year, for the first time ever, Eco-Healthy Child Care® presented a portion of our environmental health curriculum to child care professionals on a webinar hosted by the National Center on Early Childhood Health and Wellness. The Center targets child care programs serving high-risk, low-income children from birth to age 5, as well as pregnant women. We hope to build on this collaboration to eventually strengthen environmental health best practices within Head Start and Early Head Start child care guidelines.

We have partnered with the Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit for Region Two to bring our 5 hour train-the-trainer course to Head Start and Early Head Start facilities in Puerto Rico. The Eco-Healthy Child Care® training curriculum comprehensively covers environmental health hazards commonly found within and around child care settings. To date the training has been provided in 33 states. Evaluations collected indicate that 86% of participants feel that our training was “extremely effective” at equipping them to become successful environmental health advocates.

Embedding our science-based best practices into national child care standards and their respective systems is a strategic way to integrate environmental health considerations for the long term. In 2016, we collaborated with the National Association for the Education of Young Children, a national accreditation body for center-based child care professionals that has over 80,000 members, to update their Early Childhood Program Standards and Accreditation Criteria to include more comprehensive best practices in environmental health. At the completion of this project, 31 new indicators focused on environmental health were generated and released. 

Working with governmental agencies allows us to engage with a wide variety of stakeholders. To encourage more states to consider, develop and adopt best practices for preventing potential exposures to environmental hazards at early learning settings, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, a branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, developed the Choose Safe Places for Early Care and Education program. The program’s goal is to ensure child care facilities are located in safe locations – away from sites with environmental contamination or polluting industries (such as: nail salons, gas stations, funeral homes and drycleaners). In 2017, in partnership with the Environmental Law Institute and the National Association of County and City Health Officials EHCC began providing capacity building support to 25 state health departments as they create and implement safe siting programs in their respective states.

Child care systems are always looking for strategies to incentivize best practices in care.  Quality Rating Improvement Systems (QRIS) are offered in each state; they provide a  non-regulatory framework for building and maintaining high quality early care and education programs. In August 2015, Maryland incorporated the Eco-Healthy Child Care® program into their state QRIS, Maryland EXCELS, by offering an Eco-Friendly Achievement Program “Eco-Friendly” badge for licensed child care facilities.

Are you looking to get involved in our eco-healthy work? Sign-up to receive monthly eco-hot tip emails. If you are a child care provider, apply to become an eco-healthy endorsed facility!

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  • Children's Environmental Health Network
  • 110 Maryland Avenue NE Suite 404
  • Washington D.C. 20002
  • Phone: (202) 543-4033
  • Email: cehn@cehn.org

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