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Background on America's Children and the Environment

America’s Children and the Environment presents trends in environmental factors related to the health and well-being of children in the United States.

America’s Children and the Environment brings together, in one place, quantitative information from a variety of sources to show trends in levels of environmental contaminants in air, water, food, and soil; concentrations of contaminants measured in the bodies of children and women; and childhood illnesses that may be influenced by exposure to environmental contaminants.

EPA’s first report, America’s Children and the Environment: A First View of Available Measures, published in December 2000, presented the results of EPA’s initial effort to collect and analyze existing, readily available data on measures relevant to children’s health and the environment. The second report, published in February 2003, improves on the first edition by adding new measures for important contaminants, exposures, and childhood illnesses and by including data for additional years. The report also includes more analysis of these measures by race/ethnicity of children and family income.

This website presents the most recent data and analyses prepared by EPA, including updates to measures in the published reports.

For details on the sources of data and other general information, click on “Background on America's Children and the Environment” in the right-hand navigation bar.

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