kristiet_a0o04rjz, Author at Children's Environmental Health Network

Maryland Children’s Environmental Health

kristiet_a0o04rjz on July 29, 2022

Did you know 53% of children under 18 in Maryland live in counties with unhealthy levels of ozone pollution? Or that Maryland was 3.2 degrees Fahrenheit warmer in 2021 than 1970 (compared to the national average of 2.9 degrees)? There are about 1.4 million children in Maryland, and 12% live in poverty. Poverty is an important
social determinant of health; poverty hurts children and their families. Children of color and young children are disproportionately poor and experience many issues that lead to adverse health outcomes. All children deserve a safe and healthy environment to grow and develop.

This profile highlights key Maryland children’s environmental health indicators, federal support received by the states for environmental health, health equity and climate and health programs, and a spotlight feature on a children’s environmental-health related topical issue.

Continue reading to learn more about environmental hazards, children’s exposures, and children’s health outcomes in Maryland, or click the blue button to download the profile as a PDF.

Key Children’s Environmental Health Indicators for Maryland

What is a Children’s Environmental Health Indicator?

See Indicator References

	Safe Drinking Water: 15.8% of public water utilities had drinking water violations. National average: 31.3%
	Air Quality: 53% of children under age 18 live in counties with unhealthy ozone pollution
	Warming Temperatures: 3.2 degrees F warmer in 2021 than in 1970. National average 2.9 degrees F warmer
	Toxic Chemical Releases: 5.6 million pounds of toxic chemicals were disposed of or released. United States 3.1 billion pounds
	Asthma: 8.2% of children under age 18 have asthma (2019- 2020) Nationwide: 7.5%
	Pediatric Cancer: 174.7 cases of pediatric cancer per 1 million population (2008-2018) Nationwide: 186.5 cases per 1 million
	Blood lead levels: 1.7% of tested children under age 6 have elevated blood lead levels (2018) Nationwide: 2.6%
	Neurodevelopmental Disorders:9.1% of children age 3-17 have ADD or ADHD (2019-2021). Nationwide: 8.9% 3% of children age 3-17 have Autism Spectrum Disorder (2019- 2020) Nationwide: 2.9%

Maryland Spotlight: State Children’s Environmental Health and Protection Advisory Council

Unique to Maryland is its State Children’s Environmental Health and Protection Advisory Council (CEHPAC). The team of 19 rotating interdisciplinary members was established in November 2000 by the General Assembly to ensure that all children can grow up in a safe and healthy environment. It was propelled by the findings that children have preventable exposures to environmental hazards in the places they live, learn, and grow, and are at a greater risk than adults to get exposure to and illness from environmental hazards due to characteristics specific to their developmental stage. Children of color are disproportionately vulnerable to environmental hazards due to systemic racism. CEHPAC identifies pressing environmental hazards in Maryland and recommends solutions to reduce or eliminate children’s exposure to them. The nonpartisan group meets at least six times a year to review and comment on rules, regulations and standards, inform the public about environmental health hazards, advise the General Assembly on relevant legislation, and recommend uniform guidelines for state agencies. CEHPAC addresses issues such as lead hazards, climate change, and school integrated pest management programs, as well as emerging issues relevant to children’s health. This group has been active across multiple administrations and can serve as a model to others for how to adopt a system or structure to intentionally consider children’s environmental health at the state level.

Federal Support to Maryland within the past 5 years

	CDC-funded Lead Poisoning Prevention Program
	ATSDR State Cooperative Agreement Program
	CDC National Asthma Control Program
	CDC-funded Environmental Public Health Tracking Program
	CDC State Biomonitoring Cooperative Agreement Program

Children’s Environmental Health Indicators Selection Criteria
Children’s environmental health indicators (CEHIs) are measures that can be used to assess environmental hazards, exposures, and their resulting health outcomes in children. The below criteria are used when determining which indicators to utilize:

Relevance: Each headline indicator should be a clear, understandable indicator of children’s environmental health, with broad relevance for a range of audiences at the state level – with relevance to the national level.
Representativeness: The indicators as a package should provide a representative picture of children’s health and relation to the environment.
Traceability: Each indicator should be calculated using an agreed-upon (and published) method and accessible and verifiable data.
Timeliness: Each indicator should be calculated regularly (at least biennially), with a short lag between the end of the period and publication of the data.
Data adequacy: The available data needed for the indicator must be sufficiently robust, reliable and valid.
Universality: Indicators must be comparable across all or very nearly all 50 U.S. states. [/expand]

Indicator Notes and References

Safe Drinking Water

Reference: Maryland Drinking Water Performance Dashboard. Public Water Systems with Any Violation – Fiscal Year 2021. Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Accessed May, 2022.

Air Quality

Indicator Note: In this profile, counties with “unhealthy” ozone pollution are those receiving a grade of D or F for ozone pollution in the American Lung Association’s 2022 State of the Air report. Approximately 706,946 or 53% of Maryland children live in counties where ozone pollution is not monitored or for which there are less than 3 years of data.
Reference: American Lung Association. 2022 State of the Air. Report card: Maryland. Data from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Air Quality System Accessed May, 2022.

Warming Temperature

Indicator Note: Warming matters — it drives most of the hazards associated with climate change such as extreme weather, heat days, droughts and heavy downpours. Children are more vulnerable to the hazards driven by warming temperatures, such as heatwaves, droughts, flooding, and many other cascading effects. Climate change causes an increase in the frequency and severity of temperature anomalies, extreme weather, and natural disasters globally.
Reference: American Warming: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Climate at a Glance: Statewide Time Series, retrieved May 2022. .

Toxic Chemicals

Indicator Note: EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) tracks the management of certain toxic chemicals that may pose a threat to human health and the environment. Certain industrial facilities in the U.S. must report annually how much of each chemical is disposed of or released on and off site. Many of these chemicals are known carcinogens, developmental toxicants, and neurotoxicants, such as arsenic, lead and mercury, that adversely impact children’s health.
Reference: Summary of 263 Toxic Release Inventory Facilities in Maryland. Reporting Year 2020. Accessed May, 2022.

Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Indicator Note: Mounting scientific research links environmental exposures with risk of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Attention-Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Neither genetics nor changing diagnosis or other artifacts fully account for the increased incidences of these conditions. ADHD, ADD and ASD data are for California children aged 3-17 ages.
Reference:
ADHD, ADD, and ASD prevalence. 2019-2020 National Survey of Children’s Health. Title V Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grant National Performance and Outcome Measures. Prevalence of current ADD or ADHD, age 3-17 years; and Prevalence of current Autism or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), age 3-17 years. Data Resource Center for Child and Adolescent Health. Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration. Accessed May,2022
Environmental exposures contribute to ADHD/ADD, ASD, and asthma. NIEHS/EPA Children’s Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research Centers. 2017 Impact Report.

Asthma

Indicator Note: A wealth of research links exposure to poor outdoor air quality, including high concentrations of ground-level ozone, with the exacerbation of children’s respiratory illnesses, including asthma. Several studies link it with the onset of childhood asthma.
Reference: Asthma prevalence. 2019-2020 National Survey of Children’s Health. Title V Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grant National Performance and Outcome Measures. Prevalence of current asthma, age 0-17 years. Data Resource Center for Child and Adolescent Health. Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration. Accessed May,2022

Pediatric Cancer

Indicator Note: Although cancer in children is rare, the rate of pediatric cancer has been increasing since the 1970s. It is the leading disease related cause of death past infancy in U.S. children, Neither genetics nor improved diagnostic techniques can explain the increased rate. According to the President’s Cancer Panel’s 2008-2009 Annual Report, “the true burden of environmentally induced cancer has been grossly underestimated”
Reference: Maryland Childhood Cancers Incidence. Request for children age 0-19. Age-adjusted rate for 2008-20118. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER). Accessed May, 2022
President’s Cancer Panel. 2008-2009 Annual Report. Reducing Environmental Cancer Risk. National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health.

Blood Lead Levels

Indicator Note: In 2018, 30.1% of Maryland children under age 6 were tested for blood lead levels (BLLs). Of those tested, 1.7% had a BLL ≥ 5 μg/dL. Often the most vulnerable children are not tested, and not all who are tested get reported, so this is likely an underestimate of the true scope of children’s elevated blood lead in Maryland. There is no safe level of lead exposure for children. A potent neurotoxicant, lead reduces IQ and impairs other cognitive, behavioral, and developmental functions. In 2021, the CDC lowered the BLL reference value from 5 to 3.5 μg/dL, but much of the available data still categorizes “elevated” BLLs as being 5 ug/dL or higher.
Reference:

Poverty

Reference:
- Number of Children in Maryland. U.S. Census Bureau. 2019. Quick Facts Maryland.
- Percent of Children in Maryland Living in Poverty. The Annie E. Casey Foundation. KIDS COUNT Data Center: Children in poverty (100 percent poverty) in Maryland. 2019.

Federal Support to Maryland

References:

Maryland Spotlight

References:
- Children’s Environmental Health and Protection Advisory Council. About.Accessed May 2022.

All children deserve and need a safe and healthy environment to grow and develop. They need clean air to breathe, safe water to drink, nutritious food to eat, and healthy places in which to live, learn, and play. Early exposure to harmful agents can lead to acute and chronic adverse outcomes. Infants and children are especially vulnerable to environmental exposures because they breathe, eat and drink more, in proportion to their body size, than do adults, and because their bodies and brains are still developing.

A blueprint for Protecting Children’s Environmental Health Network set out to identify a set of CEHIs that can be used to provide an understanding of children’s environmental health at the state level. Through this process, CEHN found that robust, valid, and regularly updated state level data–that are comparable across most states–were not readily accessible. States need adequate funding and capacity to collect and make accessible reliable CEHI data in order to set goals and track progress towards improving children’s health.

Children are our future – society has a moral obligation to protect them. Exposure to environmental hazards can and must be prevented. Prevention requires strong environmental regulations, fully funded and supportive public and environmental health programs and a robust workforce.

Jump to Another State:

Child Care and Climate Change–Opportunities for Action

kristiet_a0o04rjz on July 14, 2022

Child Care and Climate Change–Opportunities for Action

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

July 2022

Earlier this year the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued a report stating that greenhouse gas emissions must peak by 2025. This is necessary to give the world a chance of limiting future heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels–thus averting climate disaster. The IPCC is the scientific group created by the United Nations to assess all global science related to climate change.

From the IPCC report:

“Temperatures will soar to more than 3C, with catastrophic consequences, unless policies and actions are urgently strengthened.”

The report also showed there is an environmental justice component. The wealthiest countries are responsible for disproportionately more greenhouse gas emissions than developing countries, even though developing countries are experiencing more severe climate impacts.

Children and Climate

Children are at the greatest risk of injury, disability, and death caused by the impacts of climate change because their bodies are still growing. They are less able to physically and mentally cope with life-threatening conditions.

Climate change is adversely impacting children’s health. Impacts include increases in:

Risk for heat-related illness.
Certain diseases such as Lyme disease and West Nile, other mosquito-borne illnesses.
Frequency of natural disasters leading to children losing their lives and homes from wildfires, hurricanes, or flooding.
Asthma and allergies.

Children who are low-income and Black, Latinx, and Indigenous children are disproportionately impacted by climate change because of racist housing, and economic and social policies.

Climate Change and Child Care

Creating safe, healthy, and affordable child care settings–free of environmental hazards will improve children and staff health AND help alleviate the effects of climate change. Further, as we build new child care systems, they must be integrated into planning for climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Child care systems can help protect children and staff health by incorporating environmental health best practices into state licensing and quality improvement initiatives. For example, Utah recognizes the Eco-Healthy Child Care® endorsement program as part of their state Quality Rating Improvement System. Providing additional funding and expert resources and personnel to support child care programs in following these new environmental health-related guidelines is key to success.

Practical steps child care providers can take to tackle climate change:

Avoid Single-Use Plastic: Opt for reusable shopping bags; avoid plastic straws or disposable plates and cutlery, and avoid unnecessary packaging whenever possible. A co-benefit of reducing plastic is lower exposure to harmful chemicals in many plastics, e,g, BPA and phthalates.
Lower Food Waste. Order smaller quantities of fresh produce to reduce spoilage. Follow the first-in, first-out system using older produce before it spoils. Whenever possible, repurpose older produce for alternate use before it goes bad (e.g. using the produce for a smoothie).
Create vegetable gardens with the children. Not only do green spaces reduce carbon dioxide, but they also provide teachable moments. Make sure to always test your soil for heavy metals like lead before beginning gardening.
Switch to low-energy LED bulbs. Using energy-efficient products is great for the environment and can save you money. This might include lowering the heat temperature during the cooler months by a few degrees, switching bulbs to energy-efficient LED options, or setting lights to sensor-style options (that shut off after periods of inactivity).

El cuidado infantil y el cambio climático: oportunidades para la acción

A principios de este año, el Panel on Climate Change -IPCC (el panel intergubernamental sobre el cambio climático) publicó un informe que indica que las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero deben alcanzar su punto máximo para 2025. Esto es necesario para dar al mundo una oportunidad de limitar el calentamiento futuro a 1.5 C por encima de los niveles preindustriales, evitando así un desastre climático. El IPCC es el grupo científico creado por las Naciones Unidas para evaluar toda la ciencia mundial relacionada con el cambio climático.

Del informe del IPCC:

“Las temperaturas se dispararán a más de 3°C, con consecuencias catastróficas, a menos que las políticas y acciones se fortalezcan con urgencia”.

El informe también mostró que existe un componente de justicia ambiental. Los países más ricos son responsables de una cantidad desproporcionadamente mayor de emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero que los países en desarrollo, a pesar de que los países en desarrollo están experimentando impactos climáticos más severos.

Los niños y el clima

Los niños corren el mayor riesgo de sufrir lesiones, discapacidad y muerte causadas por los impactos del cambio climático porque sus cuerpos aún están creciendo. Son menos capaces de hacer frente física y mentalmente a las condiciones que amenazan la vida.

El cambio climático está afectando adversamente la salud de los niños. Los impactos incluyen aumentos en:

Riesgo de enfermedades relacionadas con el calor.
Ciertas enfermedades como la enfermedad de Lyme y del Nilo Occidental, otras enfermedades transmitidas por mosquitos.
Frecuencia de los desastres naturales que llevan a los niños a perder sus vidas y hogares por incendios forestales, huracanes o inundaciones.
Asma y alergias.

Los niños de bajos ingresos y los niños negros, latinos e indígenas se ven afectados de manera desproporcionada por el cambio climático debido a las políticas sociales, económicas y de vivienda racistas.

El cambio climático y el cuidado infantil

La creación de entornos de cuidado infantil seguros, saludables y asequibles, libres de peligros ambientales, mejorará la salud de los niños y del personal Y ayudará a aliviar los efectos del cambio climático. Además, a medida que construimos nuevos sistemas de cuidado infantil, deben integrarse en la planificación para la mitigación y adaptación al cambio climático.

Los sistemas de cuidado infantil pueden ayudar a proteger la salud de los niños y del personal al incorporar las mejores prácticas de salud ambiental en las iniciativas estatales de licencias y mejora de la calidad. Por ejemplo, Utah reconoce el programa de respaldo Eco-Healthy Child Care® como parte de su Sistema de Mejoramiento de Clasificación de Calidad estatal. Proporcionar fondos adicionales y recursos y personal experto para apoyar los programas de cuidado infantil en el seguimiento de estas nuevas directrices relacionadas con la salud ambiental es clave para el éxito.

Pasos prácticos que los proveedores de cuidado infantil pueden tomar para abordar el cambio climático:

Evite el plástico de un solo uso: opte por bolsas de compras reutilizables; evite las pajitas de plástico o los platos y cubiertos desechables, y evite los envases innecesarios siempre que sea posible. Un co-beneficio de reducir el plástico es una menor exposición a químicos dañinos en muchos plásticos, por ejemplo, BPA y phthalates (ftalatos).
Reducir el desperdicio de alimentos. Pida cantidades más pequeñas de productos frescos para reducir el deterioro. Siga el sistema de primeras entradas, primeras salidas utilizando productos más antiguos antes de que se echen a perder. Siempre que sea posible, reutilice los productos más viejos para un uso alternativo antes de que se echen a perder (p. ej., use el producto para un batido).
Crear huertas con los niños. Los espacios verdes no solo reducen el dióxido de carbono, sino que también brindan momentos de aprendizaje. Asegúrese de analizar siempre la tierra en busca de metales pesados como el plomo antes de comenzar a trabajar en el jardín.

Cámbiate a las bombillas LED de bajo consumo. El uso de productos de bajo consumo es excelente para el medio ambiente y puede ahorrarle dinero. Esto puede incluir reducir la temperatura del calor durante los meses más fríos grados, cambiar las bombillas a LED de bajo consumo o ajustar las luces a opciones de estilo sensor (que se apagan después de períodos de inactividad).

June is Healthy Homes Month

kristiet_a0o04rjz on June 9, 2022

June is Healthy Homes Month

By Hannah Wilkerson, Program Associate, Children’s Environmental Health Network

It’s Healthy Homes Month! To celebrate, take some time this June to improve the environmental health of your home or home-based child care. Healthy homes and child care sets children up to thrive. Children are especially vulnerable to environmental hazards in homes because of their developing bodies, underdeveloped immune system, and behaviors like mouthing items, crawling, sitting, and laying on the ground.

Lead is a particularly dangerous threat to children’s health in homes. It can be found inside houses in paint, water, consumer products (e.g. toys and costume jewelry), and dust. It can also be found in contaminated outside soil. Lead is a powerful neurotoxic heavy metal that can permanently alter a child’s life, leading to behavior and learning problems, and lowered IQ. Adult exposure can lead to reproductive issues, kidney problems, cardiovascular disease, and nerve disorders. While lead is dangerous to both adults and children, the people most at risk of exposure are those who are pregnant or breastfeeding and children under the age of six, because they are in a rapid state of development or nurturing a young child who is in a vulnerable state of development.

Disparities in lead exposure exist for lower-income households and neighborhoods and Black, Latinx, and Indigenous children. These communities are more likely to live in housing that is of poor quality and near polluting industries putting them at greater risk of lead hazards.

Tips for maintaining a lead-safe home:

Maintain your home to minimize lead paint hazards like chipping, cracking, or peeling paint.
Renovate safely. If you are planning to paint, renovate or remodel a home built before 1978, use contractors certified by the EPA for lead-safe work practices
Test any bare soil in or around your home for lead by an EPA accredited lab. Cover bare soil with mulch or ground cover.
Go shoe-free inside to reduce lead-contaminated soil inside.
Frequently wash hands, especially after coming inside from working or playing in the yard and before eating
Use only cold water for drinking and cooking, especially when making baby formula, as cold water is less likely to leach lead from pipes or fixtures.
Test your water for lead and use water filtration devices that have been certified to remove lead (look for filters that have been tested by an accredited third-party certification body or bodies for lead reduction and particulate reduction (Class I) capabilities against both NSF/ANSI Standards 42 and 53, like ZeroWater’s 5-stage filtration water dispenser/pitcher or ExtremeLife™ Faucet Mount filter).

To learn more about protecting children’s (and adults) health from environmental hazards in the home or home-based child care, check out the Eco-Healthy Child Care® factsheets, the newly updated Protecting Children’s Environmental Health E-Course, or the Lead-Safe Toolkit for Home-Based Child Care.

During June, you can win a Healthy Homes Prize Package by joining the Children’s Environmental Health Network’s 30th Anniversary Fundraiser. Fundraisers who complete three activities that help make their homes healthier can enter to win one Short-Term Radon Test Kit from the American Lung Association and their choice of one ZeroWater 5-stage filtration water dispenser/pitcher or ExtremeLife™ Faucet Mount filter (both NSF/ANSI certified to reduce lead), plus 5% off coupon to ZeroWater store. Learn more and enter at https://bit.ly/CEHNfund30.

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.

North Carolina Children’s Environmental Health

kristiet_a0o04rjz on March 9, 2022

Did you know 13.9% of children under 18 in North Carolina have ADHD or ADD (compared to the National average of 8.9%) in 2019-2020? Or that 43% of children under age 18 live in counties that do not monitor ozone pollution? There are 2.3 million children in North Carolina, and approximately 20% of them live in poverty. Poverty is an important social determinant of health; poverty hurts children and their families. Children of color and young children are disproportionately poor and experience many issues that lead to adverse health outcomes. All children deserve a safe and healthy environment to grow and develop.

This profile highlights key North Carolina children’s environmental health indicators, federal support received by the state for environmental health, health equity and climate and health programs, and a spotlight feature in a children’s environmental health-related topical issues.

Continue reading to learn more about environmental hazards, children’s exposures, and children’s health outcomes in North Carolina, or click the blue button to download the profile as a PDF.

Key Children’s Environmental Health Indicators for North Carolina

What is a Children’s Environmental Health Indicator?

See Indicator References

	Safe Drinking Water: 22% of public water utilities had drinking water violations (2020) National average: 31%
	Air Quality: 43% of children under age 18 live in the 68 (out of 100 total) counties that do not monitor ozone pollution (2021)
	Warming Temperatures: 2.5 degrees F warmer in 2020 than in 1970. National average 2.8 degrees F warmer
	Toxic Chemical Releases: 55 million pounds of toxic chemicals were disposed of or released (2020). United States 3.1 billion pounds
	Asthma: 7.1% of children under age 18 have asthma (2018- 2019) Nationwide: 7.7%
	Pediatric Cancer: 172.8 cases of pediatric cancer per 1 million population (2005-2015) Nationwide: 181.0 cases per 1 million
	Blood lead levels: 1.2% of tested children under age 6 have elevated blood lead levels (2018). Nationwide: 2.6%
	Neurodevelopmental Disorders:13.9% of children age 3-17 have ADD or ADHD (2019-2020). Nationwide: 8.9%. 3.2% of children age 3-17 have Autism Spectrum Disorder (2019- 2020) Nationwide: 2.9%

North Carolina Spotlight:

Research shows that children today will face around three times as many climate disasters as their grandparents did, including wildfires, storms, floods and droughts. Aggressive reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are needed to protect children and future generations from the health effects of these impacts. A 2018 North Carolina executive order established climate and clean energy goals to achieve by 2025, including reducing statewide greenhouse has emissions to 40% below 2005 levels. According to the U.S. Solar Market Insight Report, NC ranks 3rd in the nation for total solar power as of the end of the first quarter of 2021.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)has listed impacts to children among the top priorities to be addressed in its statewide climate resilience strategy. The state has an Early Childhood Action Plan which outlies a cohesive vision, sets benchmarks for impact by the year 2025, and establishes shared stakeholder accountability to achieve statewide goals for young children from birth through age 8. As of March 2021, the NC DHHS has been working on an addendum to the Early Childhood Action Plan that would focus on assessing and addressing the impacts of climate change on young children through the lens of health equity.

Federal Support to North Carolina within the past 5 years

	CDC-funded Climate-Ready States & Cities Initiative
	CDC-Funded Lead Poisoning Prevention Program
	ATSDR State Cooperative Agreement Program
	CDC National Asthma Control Program
	CDC-funded Environmental Public Health Tracking Program
	CDC State Biomonitoring Cooperative Agreement Program

- Relevance: Each headline indicator should be a clear, understandable indicator of children’s environmental health, with broad relevance for a range of audiences at the state level – with relevance to the national level.
- Representativeness: The indicators as a package should provide a representative picture of children’s health and relation to the environment.
- Traceability: Each indicator should be calculated using an agreed-upon (and published) method and accessible and verifiable data.
- Timeliness: Each indicator should be calculated regularly (at least biennially), with a short lag between the end of the period and publication of the data.
- Data adequacy: The available data needed for the indicator must be sufficiently robust, reliable and valid.
- Universality: Indicators must be comparable across all or very nearly all 50 U.S. states. [/expand]

Indicator Notes and References

Safe Drinking Water

Reference: North Carolina Drinking Water Performance Dashboard. Public Water Systems with Any Violation – Fiscal Year 2020. Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Air Quality

Indicator Note: In this fact sheet, counties with “unhealthy” ozone pollution are those receiving a grade of D or F for ozone pollution in the American Lung Association’s 2021 State of the Air report. Out of North Carolina’s 100 counties, 68 did not monitor for ozone. Of the 32 counties that monitored, 2 had unhealthy ozone pollution, accounting for 321,520 or 14% of children.
Reference: Ozone Pollution. American Lung Association. 2021 State of the Air. Report card: North Carolina. Data from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Air Quality System.

[/toggle]
[toggle title=”Warming Temperature”]

Indicator Note: Warming matters — it drives most of the hazards associated with climate change such as extreme weather, heat days, droughts and heavy downpours. Children are more vulnerable to harm from extreme heat and to the other cascading effects of warming temperatures.
Reference: Warming Temperatures. 2020. Climate at a Glance | National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). Statewide Haywood Plots: North Carolina.

Toxic Chemicals

Indicator Note: EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) tracks the management of certain toxic chemicals that may pose a threat to human health and the environment. Certain industrial facilities in the U.S. must report annually how much of each chemical is disposed of or released on and off site. Many of these chemicals are known carcinogens, developmental toxicants, and neurotoxicants, such as arsenic, lead and mercury, that adversely impact children’s health.
Reference: Summary of 779 Toxic Release Inventory Facilities in North Carolina. Reporting Year 2020.

Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Indicator Note: Mounting scientific research links environmental exposures with risk of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Attention-Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Neither genetics nor changing diagnosis or other artifacts fully account for the increased incidences of these conditions. ADHD, ADD and ASD data are for North Carolina children aged 3-17 ages.
Reference: ADHD, ADD, and ASD prevalence. 2019-2020 National Survey of Children’s Health. Title V Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grant National Performance and Outcome Measures. Prevalence of current ADD or ADHD, age 3-17 years; and Prevalence of current Autism or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), age 3-17 years. Data Resource Center for Child and Adolescent Health. Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration.

Asthma

Indicator Note: A wealth of research links exposure to poor outdoor air quality, including high concentrations of ground-level ozone, with the exacerbation of children’s respiratory illnesses, including asthma. Several studies link it with the onset of childhood asthma.
Reference: Asthma prevalence. 2018-2019 National Survey of Children’s Health. Title V Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grant National Performance and Outcome Measures. Prevalence of current asthma, age 0-17 years. Data Resource Center for Child and Adolescent Health. Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration.

Pediatric Cancer

Indicator Note: Although cancer in children is rare, the rate of pediatric cancer has been increasing since the 1970s. It is the leading disease related cause of death past infancy in U.S. children, Neither genetics nor improved diagnostic techniques can explain the increased rate. According to the President’s Cancer Panel’s 2008-2009 Annual Report, “the true burden of environmentally induced cancer has been grossly underestimated”
Reference:North Carolina Childhood Cancers Incidence Request for children age 0-19. Age-adjusted rate for 2005-2015. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER).

Blood Lead Levels

Indicator Note: Often the most vulnerable children are not tested, and not all who are tested get reported, so 1.2% is likely an underestimate of the true scope of children’s elevated blood lead in North Carolina. There is no safe level of lead exposure for children. A potent neurotoxicant, lead reduces IQ and impairs other cognitive, behavioral and developmental functions. In 2021, the CDC lowered the BLL reference value from 5 to 3.5 µg/dL.
Reference: National Childhood Blood Lead Surveillance Data. 2018. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention..

Poverty

Reference:
- Number of Children in North Carolina. U.S. Census Bureau. 2019. Quick Facts North Carolina
- Percent of Children in North Carolina Living in Poverty. The Annie E. Casey Foundation. 2020 KIDS COUNT Data Book: 2020 State Trends in Child Well-Being: North Carolina.

Federal Support to North Carolina

References:

North Carolina Spotlight

References:
- Thiery, W., Lange, S., Rogelj, J., Schleussner, C. F., Gudmundsson, L., Seneviratne, S. I., … & Wada, Y. (2021). Intergenerational inequities in exposure to climate extremes. Science, 374(6564), 158-160
- State of North Carolina Exec. Order No. 80. October 29, 2018.
- U.S. Solar Market Insight Report 2021 Q2. June 15, 2021. Solar Energy Industries Association.
- North Carolina Early Childhood Action Plan. 2019. North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.

Minnesota Children’s Environmental Health

kristiet_a0o04rjz on March 9, 2022

Did you know 48% of Minnesota’s children live in counties that do not monitor ozone pollution levels? Or that while the national average temperature increase since 1970 is 2.8 degrees F, Minnesota’s temperature increase is 3.3 degrees F? There are 1.3 million children in Minnesota, and approximately 11% of them live in poverty. Poverty is an important social determinant of health; poverty hurts children and their families. Children of color and young children are disproportionately poor and experience many issues that lead to adverse health outcomes. All children deserve a safe and healthy environment to grow and develop.

This profile highlights key Minnesota children’s environmental health indicators, federal support received by the state for environmental health, health equity, and climate and health programs, and a spotlight feature on a children’s environmental health-related topical issue.

Continue reading to learn more about environmental hazards, children’s exposures, and children’s health outcomes in Minnesota, or click the blue button to download the profile as a PDF.

Key Children’s Environmental Health Indicators for Minnesota

What is a Children’s Environmental Health Indicator?

See Indicator References

	Safe Drinking Water: 3% of public water utilities had drinking water violations (2020). National average: 31%
	Air Quality: 48% of children under age 18 live in the 72 (out of 87 total) counties that do not monitor ozone pollution (2021).
	Warming Temperatures: 3.3 degrees F warmer in 2020 than in 1970. National average 2.8 degrees F warmer
	Toxic Chemical Releases: 20.4 million pounds of toxic chemicals were disposed of or released (2020). United States 3.1 billion pounds
	Asthma: 7% of children under age 18 have asthma (2018- 2019) Nationwide: 7.7%
	Pediatric Cancer: 185.7 cases of pediatric cancer per 1 million population (2005-2015) Nationwide: 181.0 cases per 1 million
	Blood lead levels: 1.4% of tested children under age 6 have elevated blood lead levels (2018) Nationwide: 2.6%
	Neurodevelopmental Disorders:6.8% of children age 3-17 have ADD or ADHD (2019-2020). Nationwide: 8.9%. 2.7% of children age 3-17 have Autism Spectrum Disorder (2019- 2020) Nationwide: 2.9%

Minnesota Spotlight: Minnesota Department of Health Drinking Water Guidance

Minnesota is one of only a few states that develops its own drinking water guidance in addition to existing EPA standards. State law specifies that the guidance must adequately protect the health of infants and children. To this end, the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) has developed drinking water guidance that considers developmental “windows of sensitivity” to toxicants as well as periods of high exposure.

The state is particularly aggressive in its monitoring of per and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a class of persistent chemicals that pose significant health risks. MDH toxicologists uniquely consider placental transfer and transfer through formula-feeding and breastmilk in their risk assessment of PFAS in water sources.

MDH has a long-term goal of sampling all community water systems in the state for PFAS. Under this goal, MDH aims to cover 90% of CWS customers under its PFAS monitoring program by 2025. They will also sample noncommunity water systems in areas that are most vulnerable to PFAS contamination to address the highest potential public health risks.

Federal Support to Minnesota within the past 5 years


	CDC-Funded Lead Poisoning Prevention Program
	ATSDR State Cooperative Agreement Program
	CDC National Asthma Control Program
	CDC-funded Environmental Public Health Tracking Program
	CDC State Biomonitoring Cooperative Agreement Program

- Relevance: Each headline indicator should be a clear, understandable indicator of children’s environmental health, with broad relevance for a range of audiences at the state level – with relevance to the national level.
- Representativeness: The indicators as a package should provide a representative picture of children’s health and relation to the environment.
- Traceability: Each indicator should be calculated using an agreed-upon (and published) method and accessible and verifiable data.
- Timeliness: Each indicator should be calculated regularly (at least biennially), with a short lag between the end of the period and publication of the data.
- Data adequacy: The available data needed for the indicator must be sufficiently robust, reliable and valid.
- Universality: Indicators must be comparable across all or very nearly all 50 U.S. states. [/expand]

Indicator Notes and References

Safe Drinking Water

Reference: Minnesota Drinking Water Performance Dashboard. Public Water Systems with Any Violation – Fiscal Year 2020. Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Air Quality

Indicator Note: In this fact sheet, counties with “unhealthy” ozone pollution are those receiving a grade of D or F for ozone pollution in the American Lung Association’s 2021 State of the Air report. Out of Minnesota’s 87 counties, 72 did not monitor for ozone. None of the 15 counties that monitored had unhealthy ozone pollution.
Reference: Ozone Pollution. American Lung Association. 2021 State of the Air. Report card: Minnesota. Data from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Air Quality System.

Warming Temperature

Indicator Note: Warming matters — it drives most of the hazards associated with climate change such as extreme weather, heat days, droughts and heavy downpours. Children are more vulnerable to harm from extreme heat and to the other cascading effects of warming temperatures.
Reference: AMERICAN WARMING: The Fastest-Warming Cities and States in the U.S. 2020. Climate Central. Data from National Centers for Environmental Information, National Oceanic Toxic Chemicals”]

Indicator Note: EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) tracks the management of certain toxic chemicals that may pose a threat to human health and the environment. Certain industrial facilities in the U.S. must report annually how much of each chemical is disposed of or released on and off site. Many of these chemicals are known carcinogens, developmental toxicants, and neurotoxicants, such as arsenic, lead and mercury, that adversely impact children’s health.
Reference: Summary of 509 Toxic Release Inventory Facilities in Minnesota. Reporting Year 2020.

Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Indicator Note: Mounting scientific research links environmental exposures with risk of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Attention-Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Neither genetics nor changing diagnosis or other artifacts fully account for the increased incidences of these conditions. ADHD, ADD and ASD data are for Minnesota children aged 3-17 ages.
Reference: ADHD, ADD, and ASD prevalence. 2019-2020 National Survey of Children’s Health. Title V Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grant National Performance and Outcome Measures. Prevalence of current ADD or ADHD, age 3-17 years; and Prevalence of current Autism or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), age 3-17 years. Data Resource Center for Child and Adolescent Health. Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration. Accessed on October 28, 2019.

Asthma

Indicator Note: A wealth of research links exposure to poor outdoor air quality, including high concentrations of ground-level ozone, with the exacerbation of children’s respiratory illnesses, including asthma. Several studies link it with the onset of childhood asthma.
Reference: Asthma prevalence. 2018-2019 National Survey of Children’s Health. Title V Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grant National Performance and Outcome Measures. Prevalence of current asthma, age 0-17 years. Data Resource Center for Child and Adolescent Health. Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration. Accessed on October 28, 2019.

Pediatric Cancer

Indicator Note: Although cancer in children is rare, the rate of pediatric cancer has been increasing since the 1970s. It is the leading disease related cause of death past infancy in U.S. children, Neither genetics nor improved diagnostic techniques can explain the increased rate. According to the President’s Cancer Panel’s 2008-2009 Annual Report, “the true burden of environmentally induced cancer has been grossly underestimated”
Reference: Minnesota Childhood Cancers Incidence Request for children age 0-19. Age-adjusted rate for 2005-2015. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER).

Blood Lead Levels

Indicator Note: In 2017, 21.9% of Minnesota children under age 6 were tested for blood lead levels (BLLs). Of those tested, 0.6% had a BLL>= 5 µg/dL. Often the most vulnerable children are not tested, and not all who are tested get reported, so 0.6% is likely an underestimate of the true scope of children’s elevated blood lead in Minnesota. There is no safe level of lead exposure for children. A potent neurotoxicant, lead reduces IQ and impairs other cognitive, behavioral and developmental functions. In 2021, the CDC lowered the BLL reference value from 5 to 3.5 µg/dL.
Reference: National Childhood Blood Lead Surveillance Data. Minnesota (2018). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Poverty

Reference:
- Number of Children in Minnesota. U.S. Census Bureau. 2019. Quick Facts Minnesota.
- Percent of Children in Minnesota Living in Poverty. The Annie E. Casey Foundation. 2019 KIDS COUNT Data Book: 2019 State Trends in Child Well-Being: Minnesota

Federal Support to Minnesota

References:

Minnesota Spotlight

References:
- Minnesota Guidance Values and Standards for Contaminants in Drinking Water. Minnesota Department of Health. 2020.
- Minnesota State Law. Health Standards. 2021 Minnesota Statutes. Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Legislature.
- Minnesota Risk Assessment. Focus on Chronic Exposure for Deriving Drinking Water Guidance Underestimates Potential Risk to Infants. Helen Goeden. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2018 Mar; 15(3): 512.
- Minnesota PFAS water guidance. A transgenerational toxicokinetic model and its use in derivation of Minnesota PFOA water guidance.Goeden HM, Greene CW, Jacobus JA. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol. 2019 Mar;29(2):183-195. [/toggle]
  [/accordion]

Michigan Children’s Environmental Health

kristiet_a0o04rjz on March 9, 2022

Did you know 50% of children under 18 in Michigan live in counties with unhealthy levels of ozone pollution? Or that 9.1% of children under age 18 had asthma (compared to the National average of 7.7%) in 2018-2019? There are 2.1 million children in Michigan, and approximately 18% of them live in poverty. Poverty is an important social determinant of health; poverty hurts children and their families. Children of color and young children are disproportionately poor and experience many issues that lead to adverse health outcomes. All children deserve a safe and healthy environment to grow and develop.

This profile highlights key Michigan children’s environmental health indicators, federal support received by the state for environmental health, health equity and climate and health programs, and a spotlight feature in a children’s environmental health-related topical issues.

Continue reading to learn more about environmental hazards, children’s exposures, and children’s health outcomes in Michigan, or click the blue button to download the profile as a PDF.

Key Children’s Environmental Health Indicators for Michigan

What is a Children’s Environmental Health Indicator?

See Indicator References

	Safe Drinking Water: 24% of public water utilities had drinking water violations (2020) National average: 31%
	Air Quality: 50% of children under age 18 live in counties with unhealthy ozone pollution (2021)
	Warming Temperatures: 2.9 degrees F warmer in 2020 than in 1970. National average 2.8 degrees F warmer
	Toxic Chemical Releases: 61.9 million pounds of toxic chemicals were disposed of or released (2020). United States 3.1 billion pounds
	Asthma: 9.1% of children under age 18 have asthma (2018- 2019) Nationwide: 7.7%
	Pediatric Cancer: 184.8 cases of pediatric cancer per 1 million population (2005-2015) Nationwide: 181.0 cases per 1 million
	Blood lead levels: 4% of tested children under age 6 have elevated blood lead levels (2016). Nationwide: 3.8%
	Neurodevelopmental Disorders:9.7% of children age 3-17 have ADD or ADHD (2019-2020). Nationwide: 8.9%. 2.6% of children age 3-17 have Autism Spectrum Disorder (2019- 2020) Nationwide: 2.9%

Michigan Spotlight: Michigan PFAS Action Response Team (MPART)

Contamination of drinking water by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFA) has been a high-visibility issue in Michigan and across the country over the past few years. PFAS are a group of highly toxic persistent chemicals and a significant public health concern. Although the EPA anticipates issuing PFAS regulation in Fall 2023, there are currently no federal regulations in place for PFAS in drinking water. A 2021 report found that Michigan has among the most PFAS-contaminated water sites in the country. However, the high number of confirmed sites is at least partly attributed to MI’s aggressive search for PFAS contamination.

Since 2017, the state has acted to protect its drinking water via the Michigan PFAS Action Response Team (MPART), a multi-agency collaboration. MPART actions that have successfully reduced statewide exposure include the provisioning of alternative water sources and the regulation of PFAS discharges into drinking water supplies, While the state drinking water standards only apply to public water supplies, MPART actions that have successfully reduced statewide exposure include the provisioning of alternative water sources and the regulation of PFAS discharges into drinking water supplies. While the state drinking water standards only apply to public water supplies, MPART investigators also assist private well owners by testing wells in areas with known PFAS contamination, providing educational information about PFAS, and helping those with tainted well water to consider solutions. Michigan is one of only 16 states to set enforceable standards for certain PFAS substances in drinking water. These standards are stricter than the EPA’s for current unenforceable health advisory levels.

Federal Support to Michigan within the past 5 years

	CDC-funded Climate-Ready States & Cities Initiative
	CDC-Funded Lead Poisoning Prevention Program
	ATSDR State Cooperative Agreement Program
	CDC National Asthma Control Program
	CDC-funded Environmental Public Health Tracking Program
	CDC State Biomonitoring Cooperative Agreement Program

Children’s Environmental Health Indicators Selection Criteria (click to expand):”]
Children’s environmental health indicators (CEHIs) are measures that can be used to assess environmental hazards, exposures, and their resulting health outcomes in children. The below criteria are used when determining which indicators to utilize:

- Relevance: Each headline indicator should be a clear, understandable indicator of children’s environmental health, with broad relevance for a range of audiences at the state level – with relevance to the national level.
- Representativeness: The indicators as a package should provide a representative picture of children’s health and relation to the environment.
- Traceability: Each indicator should be calculated using an agreed-upon (and published) method and accessible and verifiable data.
- Timeliness: Each indicator should be calculated regularly (at least biennially), with a short lag between the end of the period and publication of the data.
- Data adequacy: The available data needed for the indicator must be sufficiently robust, reliable and valid.
- Universality: Indicators must be comparable across all or very nearly all 50 U.S. states. [/expand]

Indicator Notes and References

Safe Drinking Water

Reference: Michigan Drinking Water Performance Dashboard. Public Water Systems with Any Violation – Fiscal Year 2020. Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Air Quality

Indicator Note: In this fact sheet, counties with “unhealthy” ozone pollution are those receiving a grade of D or F for ozone pollution in the American Lung Association’s 2021 State of the Air report. Approximately 566,278 or 26% of Michigan children live in counties where ozone pollution is not monitored for which there is less than 3 years of data.
Reference: Ozone Pollution. American Lung Association. 2021 State of the Air Report Card: Michigan. Data from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Air Quality System.

Warming Temperature

Indicator Note: Warming matters — it drives most of the hazards associated with climate change such as extreme weather, heat days, droughts and heavy downpours. Children are more vulnerable to harm from extreme heat and to the other cascading effects of warming temperatures.
Reference: Warming Temperatures. Climate at a Glance | National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). Statewide Haywood Plots: Michigan (2020).

Toxic Chemicals

Indicator Note: EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) tracks the management of certain toxic chemicals that may pose a threat to human health and the environment. Certain industrial facilities in the U.S. must report annually how much of each chemical is disposed of or released on and off site. Many of these chemicals are known carcinogens, developmental toxicants, and neurotoxicants, such as arsenic, lead and mercury, that adversely impact children’s health.
Reference: Summary of 759 Toxic Release Inventory Facilities in Michigan. Reporting Year 2020.

Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Indicator Note: Mounting scientific research links environmental exposures with risk of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Attention-Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Neither genetics nor changing diagnosis or other artifacts fully account for the increased incidences of these conditions. ADHD, ADD and ASD data are for Michigan children aged 3-17 ages.
Reference: ADHD, ADD, and ASD prevalence. 2019-2020 National Survey of Children’s Health. Title V Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grant National Performance and Outcome Measures. Prevalence of current ADD or ADHD, age 3-17 years; and Prevalence of current Autism or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), age 3-17 years. Data Resource Center for Child and Adolescent Health. Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration. Environmental exposures contribute to ADHD/ADD, ASD, and asthma. NIEHS/EPA Children’s Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research Centers. 2017 Impact Report .

Asthma

Indicator Note: A wealth of research links exposure to poor outdoor air quality, including high concentrations of ground-level ozone, with the exacerbation of children’s respiratory illnesses, including asthma. Several studies link it with the onset of childhood asthma.
Reference: 2018-2019 National Survey of Children’s Health. Title V Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grant National Performance and Outcome Measures. Prevalence of current asthma, age 0-17 years. Data Resource Center for Child and Adolescent Health. Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration.

Pediatric Cancer

Indicator Note: Although cancer in children is rare, the rate of pediatric cancer has been increasing since the 1970s. It is the leading disease related cause of death past infancy in U.S. children, Neither genetics nor improved diagnostic techniques can explain the increased rate. According to the President’s Cancer Panel’s 2008-2009 Annual Report, “the true burden of environmentally induced cancer has been grossly underestimated”
Reference: Michigan Childhood Cancers Incidence. Request for children age 0-19. Age-adjusted rate for 2005-2015. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER).President’s Cancer Panel. 2008-2009 Annual Report. Reducing Environmental Cancer Risk. National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health.

Blood Lead Levels

Indicator Note: In 2016, 21% of Michigan children under age 6 were tested for blood lead levels (BLLs). Of those tested, 4.0% had a BLL>= 5 µg/dL. Often the most vulnerable children are not tested, and not all who are tested get reported, so 4.0% is likely an underestimate of the true scope of children’s elevated blood lead in Michigan. There is no safe level of lead exposure for children. A potent neurotoxicant, lead reduces IQ and impairs other cognitive, behavioral and developmental functions. In 2021, the CDC lowered the BLL reference value from 5 to 3.5 µg/dL.
Reference: National Childhood Blood Lead Surveillance Data. 2016. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Under-testing and under-reporting of children’s blood lead levels. Assessing Child Lead Poisoning Case Ascertainment in the US, 1999–2010. Eric M. Roberts, Daniel Madrigal, Jhaqueline Valle, Galatea King and Linda Kite. Pediatrics April 2017, e20164266; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2016-4266. Blood Lead Reference Value. 2021. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Poverty

Reference: Number of Children in Michigan. U.S. Census Bureau. 2019. Quick Facts Michigan.,
- Percent of Children in Michigan Living in Poverty. The Annie E. Casey Foundation: 2019 Kids COUNT Data Center.

Federal Support to Michigan

References:
- CDC-funded Climate-Ready States & Cities Initiative. 2021.
- CDC Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention. 2019.
- ATSDR State Cooperative Agreement Program. 2021.
- CDC National Asthma Control Program. 2020.
- CDC Environmental Public Health Tracking Network. 2020.
- CDC State Biomonitoring Programs. 2019.

Michigan Spotlight

References:

Colorado Children’s Environmental Health

kristiet_a0o04rjz on March 9, 2022

Did you know 71% of children under 18 in Colorado live in counties with unhealthy levels of ozone pollution? Or that 9.1% of children under age 18 had asthma (compared to the National average of 7.7%) in 2018-2019? There are 1.3 million children in Colorado, and approximately 12% of them live in poverty. Poverty is an important social determinant of health; poverty hurts children and their families. Children of color and young children are disproportionately poor and experience many issues that lead to adverse health outcomes. All children deserve a safe and healthy environment to grow and develop.

This report details key Colorado children’s environmental health indicators, federal support received by the state, and the work the Michigan PFAS Action Response Team (MPART) are doing to protect children’s health.

Continue reading to learn more about how children living in Colorado are experiencing adverse health outcomes due to environmental exposures in their air, water, and food, or click the blue button to download the factsheet.

Key Children’s Environmental Health Indicators for Colorado

What is a Children’s Environmental Health Indicator?

See Indicator References

	Safe Drinking Water: 40% of public water utilities had drinking water violations (2019). National average: 32%
	Air Quality: 71% of children under age 18 live in counties with unhealthy ozone pollution (2020)
	Warming Temperatures: 2.9 degrees F warmer in 2018 than in 1970. National average 2.5 degrees F warmer
	Toxic Chemical Releases: 24.5 million pounds of toxic chemicals were disposed of or released (2018). United States 3.8 billion pounds

	Asthma: 6.5% of children under age 18 have asthma (2017) Nationwide: 7.6%
	Pediatric Cancer: 174 cases of pediatric cancer per 1 million population (2005-2015) Nationwide: 181.0 cases per 1 million
	Blood lead levels: 1.0% of tested children under age 6 have elevated blood lead levels (2016) Nationwide: 3.0%
	Neurodevelopmental Disorders:8.8% of children age 3-17 have ADD or ADHD (2017-2018). Nationwide: 8.7%. 2.9% of children age 3-17 have Autism Spectrum Disorder (2017) Nationwide: 2.9%

Colorado Spotlight:

Exposure to lead can seriously harm a child’s health, including damage to the brain and nervous system, reduced IQ, and learning disabilities. A common source of lead in drinking water are lead service lines (LSLs) which bring municipal water into homes. Full LSL, replacement is imperative to reduce the risk of lead exposure to millions of families, especially those in under-resourced communities and communities of color

In 2020 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed revisions to the Lead and Copper Rule -the rule that is responsible for drinking water infrastructure and contaminants. There are several problems with the proposed revisions, including a lowered rate for required LSL replacements, With the proposed new rate, it could take more than 33 years for all LSLs in a poorly performing water system to be replaced.

However, cities and states are stepping up to protect their residents’ health. Denver Water’s Lead Reduction Program is undertaking aggressive action to fully replace all of the estimated 64,000-84,000 LSLs in its service area within 15 years. Vulnerable neighborhoods and properties that service large numbers of at-risk individuals, such as child care facilities will be prioritized in the replacement effort.

Federal Support to Colorado within the past 5 years


	CDC-Funded Lead Poisoning Prevention Program
	ATSDR State Cooperative Agreement Program
	CDC National Asthma Control Program
	CDC-funded Environmental Public Health Tracking Program
	CDC State Biomonitoring Cooperative Agreement Program

- Relevance: Each headline indicator should be a clear, understandable indicator of children’s environmental health, with broad relevance for a range of audiences at the state level – with relevance to the national level.
- Representativeness: The indicators as a package should provide a representative picture of children’s health and relation to the environment.
- Traceability: Each indicator should be calculated using an agreed-upon (and published) method and accessible and verifiable data.
- Timeliness: Each indicator should be calculated regularly (at least biennially), with a short lag between the end of the period and publication of the data.
- Data adequacy: The available data needed for the indicator must be sufficiently robust, reliable and valid.
- Universality: Indicators must be comparable across all or very nearly all 50 U.S. states. [/expand]

Indicator Notes and References

Safe Drinking Water

Reference: Colorado Drinking Water Performance Dashboard. Public Water Systems with Any Violation – Fiscal Year 2019. Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Accessed on March 25,2020.

Air Quality

Indicator Note: In this fact sheet, counties with “unhealthy” ozone pollution are those receiving a grade of D or F for ozone pollution in the American Lung Association’s 2020 State of the Air report. Approximately 161,638 or 13% of Colorado children live in counties where ozone pollution is not monitored for which there is less than 3 years of data.
Reference: Ozone Pollution. American Lung Association. 2020 State of the Air. Report card: Colorado. Data from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Air Quality System. Accessed on April 21, 2020.

Warming Temperature

Indicator Note: Warming matters — it drives most of the hazards associated with climate change such as extreme weather, heat days, droughts and heavy downpours. Children are more vulnerable to harm from extreme heat and to the other cascading effects of warming temperatures.
Reference: AMERICAN WARMING: The Fastest-Warming Cities and States in the U.S. April 17, 2019. Climate Central. Data from National Centers for Environmental Information, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. Accessed on October 28, 2019

Toxic Chemicals

Indicator Note: EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) tracks the management of certain toxic chemicals that may pose a threat to human health and the environment. Certain industrial facilities in the U.S. must report annually how much of each chemical is disposed of or released on and off site. Many of these chemicals are known carcinogens, developmental toxicants, and neurotoxicants, such as arsenic, lead and mercury, that adversely impact children’s health.
Reference: Summary of 241 Toxic Release Inventory Facilities in Colorado. Reporting Year 2018. Accessed on April 28, 2020.

Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Indicator Note: Mounting scientific research links environmental exposures with risk of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Attention-Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Neither genetics nor changing diagnosis or other artifacts fully account for the increased incidences of these conditions. ADHD, ADD and ASD data are for Colorado children aged 3-17 ages.
Reference: ADHD, ADD, and ASD prevalence. 2017-2018 National Survey of Children’s Health. Title V Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grant National Performance and Outcome Measures. Prevalence of current ADD or ADHD, age 3-17 years; and Prevalence of current Autism or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), age 3-17 years. Data Resource Center for Child and Adolescent Health. Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration. Accessed on March 25,2020.

Asthma

Indicator Note: A wealth of research links exposure to poor outdoor air quality, including high concentrations of ground-level ozone, with the exacerbation of children’s respiratory illnesses, including asthma. Several studies link it with the onset of childhood asthma.
Reference: Asthma prevalence. 2017-2018 National Survey of Children’s Health. Title V Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grant National Performance and Outcome Measures. Prevalence of current asthma, age 0-17 years. Data Resource Center for Child and Adolescent Health. Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration. Accessed on March 25,2020.

Pediatric Cancer

Indicator Note: Although cancer in children is rare, the rate of pediatric cancer has been increasing since the 1970s. It is the leading disease related cause of death past infancy in U.S. children, Neither genetics nor improved diagnostic techniques can explain the increased rate. According to the President’s Cancer Panel’s 2008-2009 Annual Report, “the true burden of environmentally induced cancer has been grossly underestimated”

Reference: Colorado Childhood Cancers Incidence Request for children age 0-19. Age-adjusted rate for 2005-2015. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER). Accessed on March 25, 2020.

Blood Lead Levels

Indicator Note: In 2016, 6.6% of Colorado children under age 6 were tested for blood lead levels (BLLs). Of those tested, 1% had a BLL>= 5 µg/dL. Often the most vulnerable children are not tested, and not all who are tested get reported, so 1% is likely an underestimate of the true scope of children’s elevated blood lead in Colorado. There is no safe level of lead exposure for children. A potent neurotoxicant, lead reduces IQ and impairs other cognitive, behavioral and developmental functions. In 2021, the CDC lowered the BLL reference value from 5 to 3.5 µg/dL.
Reference: National Childhood Blood Lead Surveillance Data. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Accessed on March 25, 2020

Poverty

Reference:
- Number of Children in Colorado. U.S. Census Bureau. 2018. Quick Facts Colorado.
- Percent of Children in Colorado Living in Poverty. The Annie E. Casey Foundation. 2019 KIDS COUNT Data Book: 2019 State Trends in Child Well-Being:Colorado.

Support to Colorado

References:

Colorado Spotlight

References:

Florida Children’s Environmental Health

kristiet_a0o04rjz on March 9, 2022

Did you know 50% of children under 18 in Florida live in counties with unhealthy levels of ozone pollution? Or that 9.1% of children under age 18 had asthma (compared to the National average of 7.7%) in 2018-2019? There are 4.3 million children in Florida, and approximately 20% of them live in poverty. Poverty is an important social determinant of health; poverty hurts children and their families. Children of color and young children are disproportionately poor and experience many issues that lead to adverse health outcomes. All children deserve a safe and healthy environment to grow and develop.

This profile highlights key Florida children’s environmental health indicators, federal support received by the state for environmental health, health equity and climate and health programs, and a spotlight feature in a children’s environmental health-related topical issues.

Continue reading to learn more about environmental hazards, children’s exposures, and children’s health outcomes in Florida, or click the blue button to download the profile as a PDF.

Key Children’s Environmental Health Indicators for Florida

What is a Children’s Environmental Health Indicator?

See Indicator References

	Safe Drinking Water: 30% of public water utilities had drinking water violations (2019) National average: 31%
	Air Quality: 21% of children under age 18 live in counties with unhealthy ozone pollution (2020)
	Warming Temperatures: 2 degrees F warmer in 2018 than in 1970. National average 2.5 degrees F warmer
	Toxic Chemical Releases: 61.4 million pounds of toxic chemicals were disposed of or released (2018). United States 3.8 billion pounds
	Asthma: 9.5% of children under age 18 have asthma (2017- 2018) Nationwide: 7.6%
	Pediatric Cancer: 189.4 cases of pediatric cancer per 1 million population (2005-2015) Nationwide: 181.0 cases per 1 million
	Blood lead levels: 1.7% of tested children under age 6 have elevated blood lead levels (2012). Nationwide: 2.4%
	Neurodevelopmental Disorders:9.8% of children age 3-17 have ADD or ADHD (2017-2018). Nationwide: 8.9%. 1.2% of children age 3-17 have Autism Spectrum Disorder (2017- 2018) Nationwide: 2.9%

Florida Spotlight

Climate change is one of the greatest threats to public health and to the safety of future generations. State and local governments are increasingly leading the way and taking urgent climate action into their own hands. Florida shoulders significant risks from climate change–form sea level rise and loss of critical coastline, to an increase in extreme heat days and more severe weather events. One example of Florida-driven innovation is the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact, developed in 2010 by Broward, Miami-Dade, Monroe and Palm Beach Counties. Through this compact, the counties have been working cooperatively across county lines to develop annual legislative programs and create a Southeast Florida Regional Climate Action Plan.

The plan provides a set of recommendations, guidelines for implementation, and shared best practices for local entities to act in-line with the regional agenda. In addition to providing recommendations in areas including agriculture, transportation, water, and energy and fuel, the plan explicitly addresses public health, public outreach and engagement, and social equity. Local entities can opt to create personalized plans based on their priority focus areas.

Federal Support to Florida within the past 5 years


	CDC-Funded Lead Poisoning Prevention Program
	ATSDR State Cooperative Agreement Program
	CDC National Asthma Control Program
	CDC-funded Environmental Public Health Tracking Program
	CDC State Biomonitoring Cooperative Agreement Program

- Relevance: Each headline indicator should be a clear, understandable indicator of children’s environmental health, with broad relevance for a range of audiences at the state level – with relevance to the national level.
- Representativeness: The indicators as a package should provide a representative picture of children’s health and relation to the environment.
- Traceability: Each indicator should be calculated using an agreed-upon (and published) method and accessible and verifiable data.
- Timeliness: Each indicator should be calculated regularly (at least biennially), with a short lag between the end of the period and publication of the data.
- Data adequacy: The available data needed for the indicator must be sufficiently robust, reliable and valid.
- Universality: Indicators must be comparable across all or very nearly all 50 U.S. states. [/expand]

Indicator Notes and References

Safe Drinking Water

Reference:Florida Drinking Water Performance Dashboard. Public Water Systems with Any Violation – Fiscal Year 2019. Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Accessed on March 25,2020.

Air Quality

Indicator Note: In this fact sheet, counties with “unhealthy” ozone pollution are those receiving a grade of D or F for ozone pollution in the American Lung Association’s 2021 State of the Air report. Approximately 566,278 or 26% of Michigan children live in counties where ozone pollution is not monitored for which there is less than 3 years of data.
Reference: Ozone Pollution. American Lung Association. 2020 State of the Air. Report card: Florida. Data from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Air Quality System. Accessed on April 21, 2020.

Warming Temperature

Indicator Note: Warming matters — it drives most of the hazards associated with climate change such as extreme weather, heat days, droughts and heavy downpours. Children are more vulnerable to harm from extreme heat and to the other cascading effects of warming temperatures.
Reference: AMERICAN WARMING: The Fastest-Warming Cities and States in the U.S. April 17, 2019. Climate Central. Data from National Centers for Environmental Information, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. Accessed on October 28, 2019

Toxic Chemicals

Indicator Note: EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) tracks the management of certain toxic chemicals that may pose a threat to human health and the environment. Certain industrial facilities in the U.S. must report annually how much of each chemical is disposed of or released on and off site. Many of these chemicals are known carcinogens, developmental toxicants, and neurotoxicants, such as arsenic, lead and mercury, that adversely impact children’s health.
Reference: Summary of 686 Toxic Release Inventory Facilities in Florida. Reporting Year 2018. Accessed April 28, 2020.

Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Indicator Note: Mounting scientific research links environmental exposures with risk of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Attention-Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Neither genetics nor changing diagnosis or other artifacts fully account for the increased incidences of these conditions. ADHD, ADD and ASD data are for Florida children aged 3-17 ages.
Reference: ADHD, ADD, and ASD prevalence. 2017-2018 National Survey of Children’s Health. Title V Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grant National Performance and Outcome Measures. Prevalence of current ADD or ADHD, age 3-17 years; and Prevalence of current Autism or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), age 3-17 years. Data Resource Center for Child and Adolescent Health. Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration. Accessed on March 25,2020.

Asthma

Indicator Note: A wealth of research links exposure to poor outdoor air quality, including high concentrations of ground-level ozone, with the exacerbation of children’s respiratory illnesses, including asthma. Several studies link it with the onset of childhood asthma.
Reference: Asthma Prevalence. 2017-2018 National Survey of Children’s Health. Title V Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grant National Performance and Outcome Measures. Prevalence of current asthma, age 0-17 years. Data Resource Center for Child and Adolescent Health. Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration. Accessed on March 25,2020.

Pediatric Cancer

Indicator Note: Although cancer in children is rare, the rate of pediatric cancer has been increasing since the 1970s. It is the leading disease related cause of death past infancy in U.S. children, Neither genetics nor improved diagnostic techniques can explain the increased rate. According to the President’s Cancer Panel’s 2008-2009 Annual Report, “the true burden of environmentally induced cancer has been grossly underestimated”
Reference: Florida Childhood Cancers Incidence Request for children age 0-19. Age-adjusted rate for 2005-2015. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER). Accessed on March 25, 2020.

Blood Lead Levels

Indicator Note: In 2016, 21% of Florida children under age 6 were tested for blood lead levels (BLLs). Of those tested, 4.0% had a BLL>= 5 µg/dL. Often the most vulnerable children are not tested, and not all who are tested get reported, so 4.0% is likely an underestimate of the true scope of children’s elevated blood lead in Florida. There is no safe level of lead exposure for children. A potent neurotoxicant, lead reduces IQ and impairs other cognitive, behavioral and developmental functions. In 2021, the CDC lowered the BLL reference value from 5 to 3.5 µg/dL.
Reference:National Childhood Blood Lead Surveillance Data. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Accessed on March 25, 2020
- Under-Testing and Under-Reporting of Children’s Blood Lead Levels. Assessing Child Lead Poisoning Case Ascertainment in the US, 1999–2010. Eric M. Roberts, Daniel Madrigal, Jhaqueline Valle, Galatea King and Linda Kite. Pediatrics April 2017, e20164266; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2016-4266.

Poverty

Reference:
- Number of Children in Florida. U.S. Census Bureau. 2018. Quick Facts Florida.
- Percent of Children in Florida Living in Poverty. The Annie E. Casey Foundation. 2019 KIDS COUNT Data Book: 2019 State Trends in Child Well-Being: Florida.

Federal Support to Florida

References:

Florida Spotlight

References:

California Children’s Environmental Health

kristiet_a0o04rjz on March 9, 2022

Did you know 89% of children under 18 in California live in counties with unhealthy levels of ozone pollution? Or that 3.3% of children under age 18 had Autism Spectrum Disorder (compared to the National average of 2.9%) in 2018-2019? There are 8.9 million children in California, and approximately 16% of them live in poverty. Poverty is an important social determinant of health; poverty hurts children and their families. Children of color and young children are disproportionately poor and experience many issues that lead to adverse health outcomes. All children deserve a safe and healthy environment to grow and develop.

This profile highlights key California children’s environmental health indicators, federal support received by the states for environmental health, health equity and climate and health programs, and a spotlight feature on a children’s environmental-health related topical issue.

Continue reading to learn more about environmental hazards, children’s exposures, and children’s health outcomes in California, or click the blue button to download the profile as a PDF.

Key Children’s Environmental Health Indicators for California

What is a Children’s Environmental Health Indicator?

See Indicator References

	Safe Drinking Water: 21% of public water utilities had drinking water violations. National average: 30%
	Air Quality: 89% of children under age 18 live in counties with unhealthy ozone pollution
	Warming Temperatures: 2.7 degrees F warmer in 2020 than in 1970. National average 2.8 degrees F warmer
	Toxic Chemical Releases: 39.2 million pounds of toxic chemicals were disposed of or released. United States 3.4 billion pounds
	Asthma: 7.4% of children under age 18 have asthma (2018- 2019) Nationwide: 7.7%
	Pediatric Cancer: 181 cases of pediatric cancer per 1 million population (2005-2015) Nationwide: 181 cases per 1 million
	Blood lead levels: 1.48% of tested children under age 6 have elevated blood lead levels (2018) Nationwide: 2.6%
	Neurodevelopmental Disorders:5.6% of children age 3-17 have ADD or ADHD (2018-2019). Nationwide: 8.7%. 3.3% of children age 3-17 have Autism Spectrum Disorder (2018- 2019) Nationwide: 2.9%

California Spotlight: Climate Change and Health Vulnerability Planning Tool

The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) seeks to reduce and prevent adverse and inequitable physical and mental health impacts associated with climate change. With partial funding from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention’s Climate Ready States and Cities Initiative, the CDPH Climate Change and Health Equity Section and its CalBRACE Project developed Climate Change & Health Vulnerability Indicators for California (CCHVIs) and an online interactive platform to visualize the data, CCHVIz, These tools assist with climate change planning and prioritizing actions to protect people most at risk, including children.

The CCHVIz displays three categories of indicators that influence vulnerability to health impacts of climate change: exposure indicators including heat, air quality, wildfires, and sea level rise; population sensitivity indicators including children, elderly, poverty, education, outdoor workers, vehicle ownership, linguistic isolation, disability, health insurance, and violent crime rate; and adaptive capacity indicators including air conditioning ownership, tree canopy, and impervious surfaces.

The CCHVIz provides health officials and planners with an online snapshot to compare their county’s indicators to the state average. They can view risk by census tract for specific indicators, such as children under age 5, and their breakdown by race and ethnicity. The tool also plots the intersections of exposure indicators (e.g., ozone concentration) with sensitivity indicators (e.g., population under 5 years of age) to learn where children are susceptible to air pollution, extreme heat, wildfire, or other threats. The CCHVIz is an excellent resource for State and local officials in California to plan to prevent and prepare for climate change-related health impacts to young children, especially children of color and children in under-resourced communities.

Federal Support to California within the past 5 years

	CDC-funded Climate-Ready States & Cities Initiative
	CDC-funded Lead Poisoning Prevention Program
	ATSDR State Cooperative Agreement Program
	CDC National Asthma Control Program
	CDC-funded Environmental Public Health Tracking Program
	CDC State Biomonitoring Cooperative Agreement Program

- Relevance: Each headline indicator should be a clear, understandable indicator of children’s environmental health, with broad relevance for a range of audiences at the state level – with relevance to the national level.
- Representativeness: The indicators as a package should provide a representative picture of children’s health and relation to the environment.
- Traceability: Each indicator should be calculated using an agreed-upon (and published) method and accessible and verifiable data.
- Timeliness: Each indicator should be calculated regularly (at least biennially), with a short lag between the end of the period and publication of the data.
- Data adequacy: The available data needed for the indicator must be sufficiently robust, reliable and valid.
- Universality: Indicators must be comparable across all or very nearly all 50 U.S. states. [/expand]

Indicator Notes and References

Safe Drinking Water

Reference: California Drinking Water Performance Dashboard. Public Water Systems with Any Violation – Fiscal Year 2020. Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Accessed June, 2021.

Air Quality

Indicator Note: In this fact sheet, counties with “unhealthy” ozone pollution are those receiving a grade of D or F for ozone pollution in the American Lung Association’s 2021 State of the Air report. Approximately 43,082 California children live in counties where ozone pollution is not monitored for which there is less than 3 years of data.
Reference: Ozone Pollution. American Lung Association. 2021 State of the Air. Report card: California. Data from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Air Quality System . Accessed June, 2021.

Warming Temperature

Indicator Note: Warming matters — it drives most of the hazards associated with climate change such as extreme weather, heat days, droughts and heavy downpours. Children are more vulnerable to harm from extreme heat and to the other cascading effects of warming temperatures.
Reference: AMERICAN WARMING: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Climate at a Glance: Statewide Time Series, retrieved July 2021 from https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag/.

Toxic Chemicals

Indicator Note: EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) tracks the management of certain toxic chemicals that may pose a threat to human health and the environment. Certain industrial facilities in the U.S. must report annually how much of each chemical is disposed of or released on and off site. Many of these chemicals are known carcinogens, developmental toxicants, and neurotoxicants, such as arsenic, lead and mercury, that adversely impact children’s health.
Reference: Summary of 263 Toxic Release Inventory Facilities in California. Reporting Year 2019. Accessed June, 2021.

Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Indicator Note: Mounting scientific research links environmental exposures with risk of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Attention-Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Neither genetics nor changing diagnosis or other artifacts fully account for the increased incidences of these conditions. ADHD, ADD and ASD data are for California children aged 3-17 ages.
Reference: ADHD, ADD, and ASD prevalence. 2018-2019 National Survey of Children’s Health. Title V Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grant National Performance and Outcome Measures. Prevalence of current ADD or ADHD, age 3-17 years; and Prevalence of current Autism or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), age 3-17 years. Data Resource Center for Child and Adolescent Health. Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration. Accessed June,2021.

Asthma

Indicator Note: A wealth of research links exposure to poor outdoor air quality, including high concentrations of ground-level ozone, with the exacerbation of children’s respiratory illnesses, including asthma. Several studies link it with the onset of childhood asthma.
Reference: Asthma prevalence. 2018-2019 National Survey of Children’s Health. Title V Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grant National Performance and Outcome Measures. Prevalence of current asthma, age 0-17 years. Data Resource Center for Child and Adolescent Health. Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration. Accessed June,2021.

Pediatric Cancer

Indicator Note: Although cancer in children is rare, the rate of pediatric cancer has been increasing since the 1970s. It is the leading disease related cause of death past infancy in U.S. children, Neither genetics nor improved diagnostic techniques can explain the increased rate. According to the President’s Cancer Panel’s 2008-2009 Annual Report, “the true burden of environmentally induced cancer has been grossly underestimated”
Reference: California Childhood Cancers Incidence Request for children age 0-19. Age-adjusted rate for 2005-2015. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER). Accessed June, 2021.

Blood Lead Levels

Indicator Note: TCA 2018 BLL data is from the California Department of Public Health, and the 2018 Nationwide BLL is from CDC’s NCEH website. Often the most vulnerable children are not tested, and not all who are tested get reported, so these values are likely an underestimate of the true scope of children’s elevated BLL in California. There is no safe level of lead exposure for children. A potent neurotoxicant, lead reduce IQ and impairs other cognitive, behavioral and developmental functions. In 2021, CDC lower the BLL reference value from 5 to 3.5µg/dL.
Reference:

Poverty

Reference:
- Number of Children in California. U.S. Census Bureau. 2019. Quick Facts California.
- Percent of Children in California Living in Poverty. The Annie E. Casey Foundation. KIDS COUNT Data Center: Children in poverty (100 percent poverty) in California. 2019.

Federal Support to California

References:
- CDC Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention. California. Accessed September, 2021.
- ATSDR State Cooperative Agreement Program. APPLETREE map. Accessed on June, 2021.
- CDC National Asthma Control Program. Accessed June, 2021.
- CDC Environmental Public Health Tracking Network. California Tracking Program. Accessed June, 2021.
- CDC State Biomonitoring Programs. Accessed June, 2021.
- California Building Resilience Against Climate Effects (CALBRACE). https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/OHE/Pages/CC-Health-Vulnerability-Indicators.aspx# Accessed August 2021.

California Spotlight”]

References:
- Climate Change & Health Vulnerability Indicators for California (CCHVIs). https://skylab.cdph.ca.gov/CCHVIz/ Accessed August 2021.
- CDPH Climate Change and Health Equity Section
- CalBRACE Adaptation Toolkit
- Emergency Responses. 2021. Michigan PFAS Action Response Team. Michigan.gov.
- State-by-State Regulation of PFAS Substances in Drinking Water. 2021. BCLP Law.
- Michigan’s new PFAS rules: 5 things to know. Bridge Michigan. (2021).

Maryland Children’s Environmental Health

Child Care and Climate Change–Opportunities for Action

June is Healthy Homes Month

Public Health Week and Lead Prevention in Child Care

North Carolina Children’s Environmental Health

Minnesota Children’s Environmental Health

Michigan Children’s Environmental Health

Colorado Children’s Environmental Health

Florida Children’s Environmental Health

California Children’s Environmental Health

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