What is Missing in the Governments Overall Approach to Addressing Environmental Health Hazards?
Despite the vast institutional framework and the resources the federal government provides for these and other agencies’ work in studying and mitigating children’s exposures to environmental pollutants, much more work is required. Advocates from environmental and children’s health groups pointed out the various obstacles that hinder federal action in fully remediating environmental hazards to children’s health. These include: • The public’s access to federal agencies’ information on toxic substances is limited. • There is no established, centralized mechanism to articulate concerns over environmental threats from members of affected communities to federal officials. • Federal environmental and health officials continue to develop policies for children as “little adults,” disregarding their unique environments, multiple routes, and multiple exposures to toxic substances. • Federal officials fail to differentiate the adverse health consequences of toxic substance exposures between childr
