Children’s Environmental Health: A Systems Approach for Anticipating Impacts from Chemicals

Increasing numbers of chemicals are on the market and present in consumer products. Emerging evidence on the relationship between environmental contributions and prevalent diseases suggests associations between early-life exposure to manufactured chemicals and a wide range of children’s health outcomes. Using current assessment methodologies, public health and chemical management decisionmakers face challenges in evaluating and anticipating the potential impacts of exposure to chemicals on children’s health in the broader context of their physical (built and natural) and social environments. Here, we consider a systems approach to address the complexity of children’s environmental health and the role of exposure to chemicals during early life, in the context of nonchemical stressors, on health outcomes. By advancing the tools for integrating this more complex information, the scope of considerations that support chemical management decisions can be extended to include holistic impacts on children’s health.

Impact/Purpose

Systems thinking enables researchers and decision makers to integrate the rapidly expanding body of information on children’s environments with advancing insights on child development and health. A systems approach can facilitate translating scientific information on key factors across multiple spatial and temporal scales to support decisions that promote and protect children’s health.

Citation

Hubal, E., D. Reif, R. Slover, A. Mullikin, AND J. Little. Children’s Environmental Health: A Systems Approach for Anticipating Impacts from Chemicals. Molecular Diversity Preservation International, Basel, SWITZERLAND, 17(22):8337, (2020). [DOI: 10.3390/ijerph17228337]

DOI: Children’s Environmental Health: A Systems Approach for Anticipating Impacts from Chemicals