MANCHESTER, New Hampshire - The E.P.A.'s New England Office today in Manchester announced a $1 million initiative aimed at protecting children from environmental health threats in the places where they spend most of their time - in school, at home, and outdoors. The announcement was made at a Safe House, a new residence in downtown Manchester that will provide safe, temporary housing for families while their homes are being renovated for lead paint or asthma allergens.
The initiative, called Children First, includes $500,000 of new investments to combat lead poisoning in New England cities, $200,000 to enhance air quality and reduce toxic exposure at 200 schools, and $225,000 in programs to curb skyrocketing asthma rates.
In announcing the $1 million initiative, E.P.A. New England Regional Administrator Mindy S. Lubber challenged New Hampshire schools to become an E.P.A. "Showcase School." As part of EPA's Safe Schools initiative, E.P.A. will choose one school in each New England state to showcase numerous E.P.A. programs accessible to make schools safer and healthier for children.
"At a time of unparalleled countrywide prosperity, it is unacceptable that thousands of children in New England are still afflicted by lead poisoning, mercury poisoning and bouts with asthma," said Lubber, who is holding events like this one in each New England state this fall to declare the children's health initiative.
Lubber pledged that E.P.A. New England - through a newly formed Children's Health Team comprised of a dozen E.P.A. staff members - will use all the tools in its arsenal to reduce environmental risks that are causing elevated rates of asthma, lead poisoning and other diseases suffered by children.
"Nothing is more important than the health of Manchester's children," said Manchester Mayor Robert Baines. "The city has made a concerted effort to work with E.P.A. and state officials to make Manchester a safer and cleaner place for families. EPA's new campaign will further our joint agenda, giving us a better understanding of the environment and how it contributes to such childhood diseases as lead poisoning and asthma."
"Pollution is unhealthy for everyone, but it is particularly threatening to children whose bodies are small and growing," said Lubber, a mother of 2 small children. "Our society cannot stand still when dozens of New Hampshire kids are still being diagnosed with lead poisoning each and every month and our hospital emergency rooms are being flooded with small children suffering from asthma."
The Children 1st initiative will build upon work already done by the city in partnership with E.P.A. New England to enhance the environmental health of its children. A landmark 1999 arrangement between Manchester and E.P.A. led to a $500,000 investment by the city into programs aimed at preventing childhood lead poisoning and asthma in Manchester. The initiative includes backing for a full time city toxicologist, screening of children for lead poisoning, lead hazards reduction training and education, and asthma reduction programs. This money complemented $135,000 E.P.A. awarded to Manchester under the E.P.A. Children's Health Champion Initiative to reduce home-based environmental health hazards that cause lead poisoning and trigger asthma.
"The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services is proud to partner with the Manchester Health Department in an air monitoring effort at Beech Street Elementary School where asthma rates are particularly high," said Robert Varney, Commissioner of DES. "This plan will combine hospital admissions data and school nurse observations of asthmatic children with air monitoring data to see whether poor air quality is partially to blame for the high rate of asthma in this center city neighborhood of Manchester." The Beech Street School is a short distance from Manchester's new Safe House.
The Way Home's Safe House, which will open in June 2001, will provide safe housing for families and help avoid lead poisoning among children who move into homes with lead paint. In 1999 and 2000, 15 families needed temporary housing due to lead poisoning or abatement activities. Once renovated, this Safe House will provide 6 apartments of short-term transitional housing for families whose permanent residences are being renovated. The Way Home is a non-profit organization in Manchester dedicated to ensuring safe housing for low-income families.
"Families, especially poor families, have the right to safe housing so that their children are not exposed to lead paint and other environmental hazards that can cause illness," said Mary Sliney, director of The Way Home. "This is our mission, and with backing from E.P.A. New England, The Way Home has worked to help low income families enhance the health of their children by addressing housing conditions."
Lubber kicked off the New England-wide campaign during the 1st month of the school year by announcing the 1st prong of the Children 1st campaign -- a Safe Schools Initiative that will focus on making sure elementary schools and high schools in New England have the safest yards, classrooms and labs possible. The school initiative includes the following:
Safe Schools
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Tools for Schools: New England's school buildings suffer from a variety of environmental problems that make our children ill. Nearly 27 percent of New Hampshire schools reported unacceptable indoor air quality in a 1995 government study. Tools for Schools is already being implemented in 150 New England schools, including 20 in New Hampshire. In the coming months, E.P.A. New England will enlist an additional 200 schools and train 1,000 more school officials to undertake the Tools for Schools plan
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Showcase Schools: One school in each New England state will be offered a broad spectrum of E.P.A. programs to ensure clean indoor air, healthier building construction, safer use and storage of chemicals and a student body educated about its environment.
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Toxics-Free Schools: Schools use chemicals in classrooms, science labs and vocational shops as well as in facility maintenance. Toxic chemicals such as mercury are also prevalent in medical equipment, lighting and electrical devices found in schools. A newly formed team of E.P.A. experts will hold workshops and visit high schools and vocational schools to educate teachers and administrators on safer use, storage and disposal of chemicals and equipment.
Highlights of the safer homes and safer outdoors action projects include:
Healthy Homes
- Lead Safe Yards: New England's children are particularly at risk for lead poisoning because the region's older wooden houses often contain lead paint and lead-contaminated yards. In New Hampshire, 1044 children have been diagnosed with lead poisoning since January of 1995, including 336 in Manchester alone.
- Lead Enforcement: E.P.A. New England's enforcement plan is making lead paint a priority by creating a team to enforce laws requiring that landlords inform tenants of the presence of lead paint.
- Asthma Reduction: In New Hampshire 80,000 people (6.6 percent of the population) have asthma, and rates for children are even higher. Asthma accounts for one 3rd of all pediatric emergency room visits and is a leading cause of school absences. E.P.A. New England is backing area organizations to teach families at home and in health centers how to reduce asthma attacks. E.P.A. New England also held an Asthma Summit this spring that for the 1st time drew together federal and state agencies along with private health groups and asthma coalitions to address this issue. The group established an initiative to track asthma rates in children and to promote new building guidelines for healthier indoor spaces.
Cleaner Outdoors
- Mercury: An estimated one in 4 children nationally are exposed to mercury at unsafe levels. Mercury exposure may lead to irreversible neurological effects. Across New England, in excess of 80 percent of the inland waters have fish too polluted with mercury to eat. E.P.A. New England has challenged the region's hospitals to eliminate mercury waste by the year 2003. Already thirteen New England hospitals have joined the program, resulting in the elimination of in excess of 600 pounds of mercury from their waste streams. Recognizing that many children get mercury poisoning because their mothers did not know the risks of eating fish from regional waters, E.P.A. New England is launching a plan to teach parents the dangers of mercury and mercury poisoning.
- Air Quality Alerts: Air pollution causes lung and other respiratory diseases in children. Every summer, E.P.A. New England gives reports on air quality to the public through the media and through electronic messages to 1,000 camps, daycare centers and individuals.
"This Children 1st agenda will enhance the many great efforts that are already underway around New England to tackle these complex children's health problems," Lubber said. "Nationally, E.P.A. has undertaken an effort to re-write many of the pollutant requirements set for our air, water, land and food safety so that they are fully protective of children. With these programs we are making a difference in the lives of New England's children."
For more information on children's health issues and EPA-NE's Children 1st campaign, visit EPA's web location at www.epa.gov/region1/children. Also visit Manchester's web location at http://eol.grolen.com/manch/index
