Evaluating Non-Chemical Stressors for Children's Environmental Health Protection
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Workshop Title: Evaluating non-chemical stressors for children’s environmental health protection
Background: Children are exposed to both chemical and non-chemical stressors at each lifestage throughout their lifecourse. Exposure to some chemical stressors (e.g., pesticides, metals, perfluorinated compounds) is routinely measured and assessed. Research on non-chemical stressors (e.g., poverty, violence, food insecurity, lack of access to greenways and recreational facilities, inadequate health care) is less routine in the context for potential combined effects with chemical stressors. Research on the interrelationships between chemical and non-chemical stressors and how these interactions affect health and well-being is still in its infancy. However, animal research has shown that non-chemical stressors do affect the biological response to chemical agents and there is every indication that this premise would be applicable for humans. To better understand the plethora of non-chemical stressors, ORD needs to develop an approach to study non-chemical stressors within a chemical stressor paradigm. Research is needed to identify which non-chemical stressors are likely to be most relevant, how these non-chemical stressors vary throughout the lifecourse, and how non-chemical stressors interact with chemical stressors and with other non-chemical stressors.
Workshop Goals and Objectives: The workshop’s goals are to explore the state-of-the-science on non-chemical stressors within a chemical stressor paradigm; and identify research needs focused on the role of non-chemical stressors within the chemical stressor research space. To achieve these goals, we have developed a multi-day, virtual workshop to address three main objectives: 1) Engage subject matter experts within the scientific community to inform the state-of-the-science on the interrelationships between chemical and non-chemical stressors and children’s health; 2) Use the construct of the Total Environment framework to identify and prioritize non-chemical stressors, both individual stressors and co-occurring stressors; and 3) Explore approaches for designing research activities to address Objectives 1 and 2.