Save the Date!
Translating Science to Policy: Protecting Children’s Environmental Health, March 30, 2009—A conference and forum presented by CCCEH, in collaboration with WE ACT for Environmental Justice. To recognize CCCEH’s 10-year anniversary, we are convening environmental and children’s health leaders to present key research findings and to discuss progress in community outreach and achieving needed policy changes for the next decade. Conference space will be limited; details and online registration to come.
The Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health works to protect children’s health, by conducting scientific studies of links between common pollutants in the environment and certain health risks. We use the results from our research to educate people about ways to reduce children’s exposure to harmful pollutants. We also work to inform public policy in order to reduce the pollution that threatens children’s health.
Environmental Hazards
Scientists at the Center are researching the effects of several common pollutants on children’s health. The pollutants we are studying were identified as the top environmental concerns by Center investigators and more than 500 women of childbearing age living in Washington Heights, Harlem, and the South Bronx. These include air pollution from fuel burning (such as diesel exhaust), secondhand smoke, pesticides, pest allergens (including cockroaches, mice, and dust mites), mold, lead, and mercury.
Health Risks
Our research is showing that higher exposure during pregnancy to these common environmental pollutants is associated with increased risk of disease in children. Babies exposed during pregnancy to high levels of pollution from fuel burning, pesticides, or secondhand smoke are being born smaller. Babies with high prenatal exposure to air pollution from fuel burning are born with increased risk for cancer. And babies exposed in the womb to high levels of pest allergens are being born with higher risk for asthma. As these babies grow, many of them suffer from developmental delays, respiratory symptoms, and asthma.