Protecting children from unnecessary harm

Healthy Beginnings expands the services offered by Operation Better Start/Women Infants and Children to include a discussion of avoidable environmental health factors that can have a lifelong impact on a child’s well being. Healthy Beginnings is a resource for parents and health care providers.

CET, Operation Better Start (OBS)/Women Infants and Children (WIC), Sprout, and Berkshire Health Systems developed this innovative approach that may serve as a model for integrating environmental health issues into prenatal care.

Operation Better Start’s Registered Nurses provide personalized health education and support for pregnant women. The nurses provide individualized case management, covering services such as prenatal care, nutrition services and food vouchers, maternal health assessment, and smoking cessation services.

Healthy Beginnings has trained nurses from OBS/WIC to identify preventable environmental health risks in and around the home. The nurses educate new parents about affordable and practical ways to protect their children from these health risks.

Many childhood illnesses, such as asthma, certain cancers, and developmental and behavioral problems, have been linked with exposures to a number of chemicals and heavy metals. Asthma can be triggered by indoor air contaminants like cigarette smoke, common household cleaners, and molds. Certain childhood cancers like brain tumors and leukemias have been associated with the use of pesticides. Developmental disabilities and learning problems have been linked with exposure to PCBs, lead and mercury.

"The scientific evidence is compelling," observed Dr. Siobhan McNally, founder of Sprout. "Parents want to know what steps they can take to make their newborn’s environment safer. Up to now, childproofing a home has focused on the prevention of physical injury. We put locks on our kitchen cabinets and covers on electric sockets. We will expand that list so it includes steps to decrease our children’s exposure to toxins."

Infants and children are especially vulnerable to toxins

Children interact with the environment differently than adults in that they crawl on the ground and love to put all kinds of things into their mouths. Children’s physical and mental development can be disrupted if a toxic exposure takes place at a critical time.

OBS/WIC nurses will help families identify possible exposures, for example, solvents in household cleaners and paints, pesticides, lead in paint and water pipes and mercury and PCBs in fish.

Nurses also teach families inexpensive, practical ways to avoid or minimize exposure. For example, nurses might discuss safe levels of fish consumption, local fish and hunting advisories, proper storage and disposal of pesticides as well as alternatives to their use. Nurses provide information on indoor air quality and ways to decrease potential triggers for asthma.

"When a new child enters the family, there’s cause for celebration. It also marks a teachable moment, a point when parents will make the effort needed for a safer environment. Healthy Beginnings gives nurses the tools to tailor environmental health education to the specific needs of a family. We expect to have a long term positive impact on the health of the community by preventing or reducing those exposures that are unintentional, but can be controlled," Dr. McNally said. "We are excited creating tools that doctors and nurses will be able to use to evaluate environmental health of all patients." "We are excited to work with health care professionals as many health and environmental issues are intertwined," said Laura Dubester, CET’s director. "This project will help reduce the amount of toxins in the home, which will protect children’s health and begin to improve the overall water and air quality. Everyone benefits."

Funding is from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Healthy Beginnings is a partnership between CET, Sprout and the VNA.

For more information, please contact CET. Update on sealing CCA wood from EPA and Consumer Product Safety Commission (2005). Studies Provide Public With Updated Information on CCA-Treated Playground and Decks

EPA and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) are providing updated information on the effectiveness of sealants and stains in reducing potential exposure to arsenic from chromated copper arsenate (CCA)-treated wood used in residential settings. For homeowners and others who want to reduce their potential arsenic exposure from their decks or other CCA-treated wood structures, new studies show that use, at least once a year, of an oil-or water-based, penetrating sealant or stain can reduce arsenic migrating from the treated wood. The data show that oil- or water-based sealants or stains that can penetrate wood surfaces are preferable to products such as paint, because paints and other film-formers can chip or flake, requiring scraping or sanding for removal, which can increase exposure to arsenic. Consumers should consider the required preparation steps (e.g., sanding, power washing, etc.) before selecting a product to minimize potential exposure to arsenic, both for initial application and re-coating.

This information is based on first-year results from two-year studies initiated by CPSC and EPA in 2003 to determine which stains, sealants and paints are most effective in reducing potential arsenic exposure from existing CCA-treated structures. EPA tested the performance of 12 coatings on older wood and CPSC tested eight coatings (seven were the same as the EPA group) on new (as of August 2003) CCA-treated wood. CCA was a pesticide treatment commonly used in the past to prevent deck and playground wood from rotting and insect damage. Effective Dec. 31, 2003, the use of CCA to treat virtually all wood intended for residential use was eliminated. More information for consumers and the sealant studies are available on EPA Web site and on CPSC's web site.