| Montreal, 2/04/2002 – The Expert Advisory Board on Children's Health and the Environment in North America has issued an Advice to Council on the development of the Cooperative Agenda on Children's Health and the Environment in North America. In its advice, the Board urges Council to place a high priority on policies that will prevent environmental exposures and risks to children in the places in which they live, play and learn, and via food, water and products. The Board also calls for the application of the precautionary principle in policy and decision making, stressing that protective actions must be taken even in the absence of full scientific certainty.
The Cooperative Agenda, currently under development, will be the blueprint for trilateral action among Canada, Mexico and the United States on children's environmental health issues of common concern. A draft for public consultation was recently discussed at a public meeting, held jointly by the Expert Advisory Board and the CEC's Joint Public Advisory Committee (JPAC), on 7 March 2002 in Mexico City.
In their Advice to Council, the experts have underscored the importance of education, training and outreach, and have provided recommendations on actions to address asthma and respiratory disease, toxic chemicals such as lead and pesticides, and to increase biomonitoring and health surveillance.
The Expert Advisory Board, a nine-person panel comprised of three experts from each country, has a mandate to advise the CEC Council on children's environmental health issues, including priority areas for the CEC work program. Additional information on the CEC's children's environmental health initiative and the Expert Advisory Board can be found at: <http://www.cec.org/programs_projects/pollutants_health/342/index.cfm?varlan=english>
The CEC was established by the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC) to build cooperation among the partners of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)-Canada, Mexico and the United States-in addressing environmental issues of common concern, with a particular focus on the environmental opportunities and challenges presented by continent-wide free trade.
The CEC Council, the organization's governing body, is composed of the ministers of environment of the three countries: the Canadian Minister of Environment, Mr. David Anderson; the Mexican Secretary for Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Victor Lichtinger; and the US Environmental Protection Agency Administrator, Ms. Christine Todd Whitman.
For more information, please contact:
Erica Phipps
Commission for Environmental Cooperation of North America
393, rue St-Jacques Ouest, Bureau 200
Montréal, Québec, Canada H2Y 1N9
Tel: (514) 350-4300; Fax: (514) 350-4314
E-mail: ephipps@ccemtl.org
Expert Advisory Board Advice to Council 02-01: Development of the Cooperative Agenda for Children's Health and the Environment in North America
JPAC Advice to Council 02-01: Children's Health and the Environment
in North America
Draft Cooperative Agenda on Children's Health and the Environment in North America
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