1. Home
  2. Risk Assessment
  3. Children's Environmental Health Center

Children's Environmental Health Center

Four images of diverse children

Protecting the health and future of our children is important to all Californians. The Children’s Environmental Health Center (CEHC) was established in the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) by the Children’s Environmental Health Protection Act (Escutia, Chapter 731, Statutes of 1999) to ensure that CalEPA’s programs specifically protect children’s health in California. In 2012, OEHHA was designated as the lead agency to coordinate and manage the CEHC. The Children’s Environmental Health Center serves as a resource for CalEPA and the State of California, performs outreach and education for the medical and public health community as well as for the general public, and coordinates with the CalEPA boards and departments to promote policies and efforts that protect children’s health. 

Children can be more affected by environmental chemicals than adults. They eat, drink, and breathe more per pound of body weight than adults. Thus, children’s exposures to contaminants in our air, water, and food are higher than an adult in the same setting. Because children are still growing and developing, they can be more sensitive to the adverse health effects of chemicals than an adult. In some cases, the effects are irreversible. It is increasingly recognized that exposures early in life affect adult health. Thus, the work of the CalEPA Boards, Departments and Offices (BDOs) to reduce children’s exposures to environmental chemicals benefits people throughout their lifetime. 

Key CEHC Activities

Image description 1 #1

Children's Environmental Health Center Reports to the Legislature

Image description 2

Risk Assessment of Synthetic Food Dye Exposures in Children

image=

Health Effects of Climate Change During Pregnancy and Childhood

 

Image description 3

Collaboration on Continuing Education for Health Professionals

Image description 1 #2

Children’s Environmental Health Symposia

Children’s Environmental Health Resources

Other OEHHA efforts relating to children's health include:

Documents

Children's Health News

07/21/2006: Secondhand Smoke & Children's Health
This 2006 pamphlet summarizes some of the findings from a comprehensive review of hundreds of studies of secondhand smoke by the California EPA’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment.

Pages