—Children's Health Program Lacking “” EPA's Office of Children's Health Protection & Environmental Education (OCHPEE) lacks a strategic plan for how it will integrate children's health into other EPA programs, does not actively communicate with those program offices, and has no system for measuring its performance, finds an EPA Inspector General (IG) report released on April 5. "OCHPEE's lack of strategic planning, identified goals, adequate measures, and quantifiable accomplishments results in its inability to demonstrate its role and value added to the protection of children's health," the report concludes. EPA is in the process of reorganizing OCHPEE and claims that once the process is finished, it will have addressed the IG recommendations.
by Britt E. Erickson | April 12, 2010
—Centers chosen for children’s health study “” The National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD) has awarded contracts to six centers to complete the first phase of the National Children’s Study, mandated by Congress in 2000. Eventually, the study will follow 100,000 children from before birth to age 21, seeking information to prevent and treat health problems, such as autism, birth defects, diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. “It would meticulously measure [children’s] environmental exposures while tracking their health and development, seeking the root causes of many childhood and adult diseases,” NICHD Director Duane Alexander says. The centers named are the University of California, Irvine; the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York City; Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia with Drexel University; the University of Utah, Salt Lake City; and the University of Wisconsin, Madison, with the Medical College of Wisconsin. The study seeks also to explain anomalies such as why Hispanic children suffer disproportionately from overweight and asthma, and why African American infants are more likely to be born prematurely. /articles/83/i41/Centers-chosen-childrens-health-study.html 20051010 Concentrates 83 41 /magazine/83/8341.html Centers chosen for children’s health study con govpol environment Centers chosen for children’s health study Chemical & Engineering News Centers chosen for children’s health study Centers chosen for children’s health study
October 10, 2005
—Children's Blood Contains High Levels Of PBDE Fire Retardants “Toxic Substances: Children's levels are higher than their mothers'” Confirming a long-held supposition, new research shows that children bear high burdens of polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardants in their bodies. In the first study to compare children's uptake with that of their mothers, researchers found that children's PBDE levels are around 2.8 times higher (Environ.
by Kellyn Betts | June 21, 2010
Using blood samples from multiple time points in the clinical trial, Hill and her colleagues found that the immune systems of the African children differed based on their ages, which of the two countries they lived in, and whether they had anemia. When they compared the immune responses of the African children to immune responses of Dutch children the same age, who were part of a different study, they found that the African children’s immune systems tend to develop more quickly.
by Alla Katsnelson, special to C&EN | February 05, 2020
—EPA Unresponsive On Children's Health “” EPA has ignored recommendations from its Children's Health Protection Advisory Committee, according to the Government Accountability Office. EPA formed the advisory committee in 1997. The committee is composed of experts in children's health from academe, health care, industry, nonprofits, and local governments. Over the past decade, it has made hundreds of suggestions to EPA regarding protection and improvement of children's health. But "EPA has largely disregarded key recommendations" from these advisers, John B. Stephenson, GAO director of natural resources and environment, told the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee on Sept. 16. For instance, when the agency proposed changes to air-quality standards for ozone, lead, and particulate matter, the advisory panel made specific recommendations related to children's health and these pollutants. "EPA did not acknowledge, was noncommittal, rejected, or offered only to consider them along with comments from the general public," Stephenson told the committee. /articles/86/i38/EPA-Unresponsive-Childrens-Health.html 20080922 Concentrates 86 38 /magazine/86/8638.html EPA Unresponsive On Children's Health con govpol environment EPA Unresponsive On Children's Health Chemical & Engineering News EPA Unresponsive On Children's Health EPA Unresponsive On Children's Health
September 22, 2008
—COVID-19 vaccine trials for kids ramp up “Pfizer and Moderna are testing their COVID-19 vaccines in teens, children, and infants as young as 6 months” Millions of adults in the US are rolling up their sleeves for one of three COVID-19 vaccines authorized in the US. With the safety and effectiveness of the shots proven in adults, the vaccine makers are testing them in teens, children, and infants.
by Ryan Cross | March 18, 2021
—NIH Terminates Children’s Study “” The National Children’s Study, an ambitious project aimed at linking environmental exposures and genetics to the health and development of 100,000 children from in the womb to age 21, has been canceled. The study, which was put on hold earlier this year because of concerns that it lacked the structure and budget needed to produce meaningful results, is not feasible as designed, NIH Director Francis S.
by Britt E. Erickson | December 22, 2014
—Children’s Medical Center In Boston Sues Celgene “Litigation: Center claims pharmaceutical company owes it millions of dollars in royalties” A case wending its way through U.S. District Court in Massachusetts highlights how research alliances between pharmaceutical companies and academia can turn sour. Children’s Medical Center is suing Celgene Corp. over amino thalidomide-based drugs used to treat cancer. Children’s Medical Center runs Boston Children’s Hospital, a 395-bed pediatric hospital that functions as one of Harvard Medical School’s teaching hospitals. With 1,100 scientists, Boston Children’s calls itself the “world’s largest research enterprise based at a pediatric hospital.”
by Alexander H. Tullo | January 09, 2014