Environmental policy and children's health

Abstract

Understanding the differences in the effects of environmental contamination on children and adults is an important part of environmental policymaking; however, unless environmental health policies reflect the differences between adults and children, this knowledge will have little practical effect. The authors of this article consider how the unique vulnerabilities of children challenge environmental policymaking. First, they review the biological differences between children and adults, and then they critique the processes of risk assessment and risk management, the principal tools currently used to form federal environmental policy. While these tools are useful in developing environmental health policy, their implementation frequently fails to consider the unique vulnerabilities of children. In light of the potential to improve environmental policy for children, the authors review both the actual and prospective contributions of educational and advocacy efforts in changing the ways policy addresses children's environmental health, and discuss the interests of industries and the problems of environmental equity. Finally, they present a new approach to environmental health policymaking which places children, rather than individual toxicants and hazards, at the center of the risk assessment and management process.