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ICEH HistoryIn 1999, when the Institute for Children's Environmental Health (ICEH) initially surveyed the rapidly expanding field of children's environmental health, we noted a number of government agencies, research institutions and citizen-based organizations undertaking important and often effective initiatives on a wide range of concerns. Some groups were working on legislation and regulatory policies that take into account children's unique susceptibilities to exposures. Others were spearheading scientific research on the health effects that different chemicals may have on neurological development and other biological systems. Some organizations were underscoring consumer issues and catalyzing grassroots campaigns to eliminate exposures in low-income communities, while others were working to ensure greater corporate accountability for the possible health impacts of their products and support for the production of less-toxic alternatives. Still other groups were educating pediatricians and health care workers as well as partnering with parents, teachers and religious constituencies. Two essential components of this burgeoning field, however, appeared to be missing:
ICEH began to address these gaps by developing two projects: the Partnership for Children's Health and the Environment, a North American coalition of leaders in government, academia and advocacy committed to working more collaboratively on children's environmental health issues, and the Healthy Futures Project, a project-based environmental-health-and-justice program for teens in the Seattle area. As ICEH initial programs became more established, other opportunities emerged. ICEH cosponsored two Healthy Schools Roundtables in Washington and Oregon and organized a blue-ribbon Healthy Schools Task Force in Washington to make and implement specific recommendations to ensure public schools in the state are more environmentally healthy. More recently, ICEH, along with other environmental-health colleagues including researchers, health-affected groups, health care providers and environmental health and justice advocacy organizations, helped to found and develop a new national network, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment (CHE). As part of CHE, ICEH served as the national coordinator for the Learning and Developmental Disabilities Initiative as well as the state coordinator for CHE-Washington (CHE-WA). Even as ICEH's programs have evolved since 1999, our core commitment remains as solid as ever: to create a healthy, just and sustainable future for all children. Activities1999Environmental Health White Paper, July 1999. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller wrote this paper for the Board of the Directors of the California Wellness Foundation. The Board chose to invest $15 million over five years in environmental health initiatives in California. Children's Environmental Health Summit, September 1999. This small invitational gathering brought together a group of 25 leaders from a cross section of government, academia and the nonprofit organizations working on issues related to children's health and the environment. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller planned this summit, the first national event for ICEH. PCHE Founded, October 1999. ICEH took the lead role in establishing a listserv for summit participants, facilitating the co-drafting of the Guiding Principles for Children's Environmental Health and formally establishing the new Partnership for Children's Health and the Environment (PCHE) in December. Healthy Futures Project Initiated, November 1999. ICEH initiated this project by convening a meeting at the University of Washington's Center for Child Environmental Health Risks. Other participants included the American Lung Association of Washington, the YMCA EarthService Corps and the City of Seattle Environmental Partnerships Team. Island County Community Health Advisory Board, November 1999. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller presented on children's environmental health. Guiding Principles for Children's Environmental Health Adopted, December 1999. The 25 original members of the newly formed Partnership for Children's Health and the Environment formally adopted the Guiding Principles. 2000Environmental Health Sessions, February 2000. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller, along with representatives from the American Lung Association, the US Environmental Protection Agency regional office, and the Seattle Public Health Department, co-facilitated two environmental health sessions for teenagers attending the YMCA EarthService Corps Symposium at the University of Washington. Institute for Neurotoxicology, April 2000. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller spoke on children's environmental health to scientists and researchers at the new Institute for Neurotoxicology in Seattle. Dioxin Hearing and Teach-in, May 2000. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller worked with the Washington Toxics Coalition, the Community Coalition for Environmental Justice, the Sierra Club and other groups in the Northwest on the planning committee for a dioxin hearing and teach-in in Seattle as part of Lois Gibb's publicizing the "People's Dioxin Reassessment." More than 200 people attend the event along with Lois Gibbs and a number of state and local government officials and their staffs. Elise gave public testimony on children's environmental health concerns. Healthy Futures Project Working Group Formed, July 2000. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller hosted a meeting to form the Healthy Futures Project working group, including representatives of the Power of Hope, the American Lung Association of Washington, City Year, the Washington University Center for Ecogenetics and the Giraffe Project. The group charges Elise with writing a proposal to the national EPA for a collaborative initiative on teen environmental health. Websites Launched, August 2000. Websites are made available for the Institute for Children's Environmental Health (ICEH) and the Partnership for Children's Health and the Environment (PCHE). Fetzer Presentation, September 2000.As part of her Fetzer Fellowship, ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller presented on the "Heart, Mind and Soul of Sustainability" to the Fetzer fellows and scholars. Presentation to Mothers & Others, September 2000. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller presented on the Partnership and offered a sketch of the children's environmental health field to the board and staff of Mothers & Others as well as with other colleagues and funders. NIEHS Regional Meeting, September 2000. ICEH Advisory Board member Jon Sharpe helped coordinate a youth segment with the Power of Hope at the NIEHS regional meeting. These youth, having been given an overview of environmental health concerns, created an outstanding presentation including music, song, art and poetry. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller hosted a booth for ICEH materials and poster and presented briefly on ICEH as part of the community voices portion of the event. Whidbey Institute Conference, October 2000. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller served as one of the primary resource people at the "Critical Times/Creative Choices III" Conference and presented on ICEH and children's environmental health issues in general. APHA Conference, November 2000. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller, working with the Children's Environmental Health Network, organized a panel and presented on the national Partnership for Children's Health and the Environment: Protecting Children from Environmental Health Hazards: National, State and Regional Coalition-Building. National Council on Sustainable Development Collaborative Strategy Meeting, December 2000. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller presented on children's environmental health and how this needs to be integrated in international efforts on sustainable development. 2001Healthy Futures Project Launch, March 2001. Healthy Futures Project Coordinator Sean Anderson and ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller organized the Healthy Futures Project launch with the Power of Hope at Centro de la Raza. Far fewer teens than expected attended, so the launch turned into a fruitful discussion among what became the new Healthy Futures Project Working Group, composed of teens, mentors and community leaders. International Conference Call, April 2001. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller facilitated the first international conference call among organizations committed to building the children's environmental health internationally and preparing for the Global Forum on Children's Environmental Health, the UN Summit on Children and Rio+10.
PCHE National Meeting, May 2001. ICEH organized this meeting of the Partnership for Children's Health and the Environment at Commonweal, a health and environmental research institute and retreat facility in Bolinas, California. Forty-five members of the Partnership come for this event, the first face-to-face meeting of the Partnership at Commonweal. "Healthy Ecosystems/Healthy Children" Meeting, May 2001. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller was interviewed on a local radio station along with Helen Caldicott and Theo Colborn in conjunction with this event sponsored by Beyond Pesticides as part of their 20th anniversary celebration. Oregon Healthy Schools Roundtable, June 2001. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller organized and facilitated this event. School Health and Safety Steering Committee Meeting, July 2001. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller spoke at a meeting organized by Rich Ellis at the Department of Health. Ecological Health and Children's Environmental Health Meeting, September 2001. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller organized and facilitated this meeting at the National Wildlife Federation in Washington, DC. APHA Conference, October 2001. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller presented on youth environmental health programs: New Youth Environmental Health Programs: Empowering the Next Generation. Healthy Futures Project Professional Development Day, October 2001. Healthy Futures Project Coordinator Sean Anderson organized the first professional development day for science teachers in Seattle.
CyberCafe Event, November 2001. ICEH hosted an event for Sandra Steingraber, author of Having Faith about endocrine-disrupting chemicals and fetal development. Teen Symposium, December 2001. The Healthy Futures Project cosponsored an environmental health daylong symposium for teens with the YMCA EarthService Corps. 2002Learning Disabilities Association of America Meeting, February 2002. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller presented on children's environmental health.
NAAEE Conference, August 2002. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller presented at the North American Association for Environmental Education Annual Conference. PCHE National Meeting, September and October 2002. ICEH organized this meeting at the campus of the University of Rhode Island. 2003
LDDI National Meeting, July 2003. The Learning and Developmental Disabilities Initiative (LDDI), a working group of CHE coordinated by ICEH, worked with the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (formerly the American Association on Mental Retardation) to organize a national meeting of developmental disabilities (DD) groups and environmental health organizations at the Wingspread Conference Center to draft a national blueprint for working to eliminate environmental toxicants that may contribute to DDs. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller presented at the meeting. International Council on Learning Disabilities, October 2003. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller presented at the meeting. Environmental Health Perspectives, October 2003 In Harm's Way Training, November 2003. ICEH cosponsored and organized this training, and ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller moderated a session at the training program for health professionals: Morning Plenary: In Harm's Way: Toxic Threats to Child Development. Collaborative on Health and the Environment National Conference. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller presented. Six Practice Prevention Columns Published, 2003. ICEH published the first Practice Prevention column, "Children's Environmental Health", for the Learning and Developmental Disabilities Initiative. Other columns published in 2003 included PBDEs, mercury, pesticides, PCBs and lead. 2004Solvents Practice Prevention Column Published, January 2004. ICEH published a Practice Prevention column on solvents for the Learning and Developmental Disabilities Initiative. Environmental Health Lecture Series, January through March 2004. ICEH organized the first annual lecture series in Seattle sponsored by the Seattle Biotech Legacy Foundation. Featured lecturers were John Peterson Myers, PhD; Jane Houlihan, MS; and Devra Davis, PhD, MPH. Neurotoxicology Conference, February 2004. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller presented. Mold Practice Prevention Column Published, March 2004. ICEH published a Practice Prevention column on mold for the Learning and Developmental Disabilities Initiative. Learning Disabilities Association Annual Meeting, March 2004. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller presented and facilitated. Journal Article, April 2004. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller wrote an article for the April 2004 issue of San Francisco Medicine: Transforming the Public Debate on Neurotoxicants: The Learning and Developmental Disabilities Initiative. Precautionary Principle Workshop, April 2004. ICEH organized a presentation at the University of Washington featuring Ted Schettler, Carolyn Raffensberger and Peter Montague of the Science and Environmental Health Network. Health Hero Award, April 2004. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller received the "Health Hero" award from the Washington State Island County Health Department in April 2004 for ICEH's outstanding efforts to ensure the health of residents of Island County. One of our actions was to help local groups pass an ordinance to ban pesticide spraying on county roads. PCHE National Meeting, April 2004. ICEH organized this third national meeting of the Partnership for Children's Health and the Environment in Baltimore, Maryland. This meeting brought together leaders from government, academia, advocacy and community-based organizations who are committed to working collaboratively to protect children from toxic environmental exposures. The meeting provided a time and place for reflection on the broader needs and goals of the growing children's environmental health movement and how partners can work more effectively together to reach those goals. Congressional Briefing, April 2004. ICEH organized a briefing in Washington, DC, cosponsored by Senators Clinton, Snowe and Jeffords. Timed to follow the PCHE National Meeting, the briefing highlighted the need for increased funding for the National Children's Study, greater support for a national health-tracking system, and tighter regulations on mercury emissions. More than 50 people attended, with more than 15 members of PCHE staying afterwards to visit with Senate and House staffers regarding these issues.
Television Practice Prevention Column Published, July 2004. ICEH published a Practice Prevention column on television viewing for the Learning and Developmental Disabilities Initiative. New Website Launched, October 2004. ICEH launched a completely redesigned and expanded website with better navigation, an environmental health news feed and other new features for our visitors. LDDI Michigan Regional Meeting, October 2004. ICEH as coordinator of LDDI organized this first LDDI regional meeting to launch the Michigan regional group. The full-day workshop held in East Lansing was designed to foster effective collaboration between researchers, health-care professionals, health-affected groups, environmental-health-and-justice advocates and other concerned citizens in order to protect all children in the region from environmental pollutants that can undermine their healthy development. Approximately 70 people attended, representing a range of professions and sectors. Washington State Public Health Association Meeting, October 2004. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller presented at the meeting in Wenatchee and encouraged the WSPHA to pass a resolution in support of banning all forms of PBDEs (brominated flame retardants) in Washington State. Newsletter Article, November 2004. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller contributed to an article by Ted Schettler, MD, in the Learning Disabilities Association (LDA) of Michigan newsletter: Environmental Pollutants and their Influence on Brain Development: What We Know. APHA Session, November 2004. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller organized and moderated a session at the American Public Health Association's 2004 conference in Washington, DC: The Learning and Developmental Disabilities Initiative: New Research, Educational and Policy Efforts to Prevent Exposures to Neurotoxicants. Idaho Conference, November 2004. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller presented at a conference of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare: Looking Upstream: Toxic Threats to Child Development (on page 3). Precaution and the City of Seattle's Comprehensive Plan, December 2004. The Collaborative on Health and the Environment &ndash Northwest (CHE-NW), coordinted by ICEH, includes a Precautionary Principle Working Group. Through its work drafting a white paper and educating local council members, that group successfully pushed for language on the precautionary principle (PP) to be included in the introduction of the Environment Section of the City of Seattle's Comprehensive Plan. ICEH coordinated CHE-NW. 2005Press conference and release of CHE-NW report, January 2005. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller and Advisory Board member Kate Davies released Dr. Davies's report, Health and Environmental Contaminants in Washington State: What We Know and What We Need to Know. YMCA Earth Service Corps Annual Symposium, January 2005. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller presented two workshops on children's environmental health.
CHE-Oregon Kick-off Meeting, February 2005. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller helped colleagues organize this meeting, then presented with Michael Lerner and Pete Myers. With a second CHE state group in the Pacific Northwest, CHE-Northwest was renamed CHE-Washington (CHE-WA). Learning Disabilities Association of America Annual Meeting, March 2005. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller presented in Reno, Nevada. CHE Regional Meeting and LDDI Regional Meeting in Pennsylvania, April 2005. A half-day LDDI workshop held in Pittsburgh followed a two-day meeting sponsored by the Heinz Endowments launching the Collaborative on Health and the Environment – Pennsylvania. ICEH helped organize, and Executive Director Elise Miller presented. Searchable Database of Members Provided, April 2005. ICEH launched a searchable database of members of the Partnership for Children's Health and the Environment (PCHE). The database was searchable by location, by specific constituencies and sectors, and by focus areas of members. Congressional Briefing on Pollutants and Disabilities, May 2005. ICEH, as coordinator of the Learning and Developmental Disabilities Initiative, organized this briefing with the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD) and the Healthy Children Project of the Learning Disabilities Association of America (LDA). The briefing, entitled "Chemical Exposure, Children's Health and Disability," was cosponsored by Senators Lautenberg, DeWine, Kerry, Snowe and Jeffords. Approximately 70 people attended, including at least 16 staffers. Thyroid Practice Prevention Column Published, May 2005. ICEH published a Practice Prevention column on thyroid function for the Learning and Developmental Disabilities Initiative. Thyroid Fact Sheet Published, May 2005. ICEH published a fact sheet on thyroid function for the Learning and Developmental Disabilities Initiative.
National Environmental Health Association Meeting, June 2005. ICEH Advisory Board member Kate Davies presented a poster on LDDI. LDDI New York Regional Meeting, June 2005. ICEH as coordinator of LDDI organized this meeting to launch the New York City regional group. The meeting was attended by almost 90 researchers, health professionals, learning-and-developmental-disabilities groups, public-health and state-agency representatives, environmental-health-and-justice advocates and other concerned citizens. CHE-NW Website Launch, July 2005. ICEH created a website for the Collaborative on Health and the Environment – Northwest (CHE-NW) to host state sites for Washington, Oregon, and Alaska. ICEH added several new features to the CHE-WA section of the site after its launch, including a clearinghouse on health and environmental quality in Washington State, a report card of the status of the scientific information on health and environmental quality in Washington State, a searchable archive of our bulletins, a calendar of environmental health events in the Pacific Northwest and a clearinghouse of training resources. Seattle Post Intelligencer, July 2005 Green Guide, July/August 2005 Environmental Grantmakers Association, September 2005. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller presented at the fall retreat: Red States, Blue States, Many Roads to Green States. International Neurotoxicology Conference, September 2005. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller presented. NIEHS Town Meeting/Public Forum, September 2005. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller served on the planning committee and presented at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Town Meeting/Public Forum: Overview of the Learning and Developmental Disabilities Initiative. Ms. Miller also co-chaired another session titled Neurotoxicants and Learning and Developmental Disabilities: Translating the Science into Education And Public Policy. National Hazardous Waste Conference, September 2005. ICEH Advisory Board member Kate Davies presented.
ICEH Begins Publishing Bulletins, October 2005. Starting with the CHE-WA bulletin, ICEH began compiling events, news and announcements into weekly bulletins for its members. By February 2006, ICEH was regularly publishing three bulletins for its three listservs. In August 2007, ICEH switched to biweekly publication. Bulletins are archived and searchable on the three websites: CHE-WA, LDDI and PCHE. Children's Environmental Health Conference, October 2005. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller and Advisory Board members Steve Gilbert and Sally Goodwin served on the planning committee, and Advisory Board member Steve Gilbert presented at this event in Spokane. LDDI California Regional Meeting, October 2005. ICEH as coordinator of LDDI organized this meeting to launch the California regional group. Washington State Public Health Association, October 2005. Advisory Board members Steve Gilbert and Kate Davies presented. LDA-CA 45th Anniversary Celebration Conference, October 2005. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller co-coordinated the Children's Environmental Health Strand with Jo Behm at the Learning Disabilities Association of California's conference. Biomonitoring Report Summary, November 2005. The Learning and Developmental Disabilities Initiative, coordinated by ICEH, released a summary of the 2005 biomonitoring report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. LDDI's document summarized and analyzed findings from this report on the measured chemicals or groups of chemicals that are known or suspected to cause learning or developmental disabilities.
Alaska Conference on Health and the Environment, December 2005. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller helped organize and presented at this conference to kick-off CHE-Alaska (CHE-AK). 2006LDDI Minnesota Regional Meeting, January 2006. ICEH organized this meeting to launch the Minnesota regional group.
Developmental Neurotoxicity Testing Meeting, March 2006. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller served on the steering committee and presented at this meeting. Mental Health Fact Sheet Published, March 2006. ICEH led a group from the Learning and Developmental Disabilities Initiative (LDDI) in developing a fact sheet on the connections between neurotoxicants and psychological disorders.
Debriefing from the National Precautionary Principle Meeting, June 2006. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller and Advisory Board members Steve Gilbert and Kate Davies presented at this local debriefing of the national meeting. All three and ICEH Office Administrator Brittany Gallagher participated in the Precautionary Academy that followed. Guest Coeditor, Summer 2006. LDDI coordinator and ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller served as guest coeditor of a special issue of the LDA's peer-reviewed journal Learning Disabilities: A Multidisciplinary Journal. The issue, published in the summer of 2006, was devoted to the links between environmental pollutants and learning disabilities. Practice Prevention Column Update, Beginning Summer 2006. Dr. Larry B. Silver began serving as ICEH's medical advisor, adding his introductions to our Practice Prevention columns. The columns were updated and reprinted beginning the summer of 2006. Autism Society of America Conference, July 2006. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller submitted an abstract for a panel on environmental health which was presented by ICEH advisor Ted Schettler and also Martha Herbert and Mady Hornig. LDDI-Parkinson's Disease Conference Call, September 2006. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller facilitated the call featuring Dr. Gary Miller. Workshop on the European REACH Program for Chemicals and the Toxics Use Reduction Institute, September 2006. The Collaborative on Health and the Environment-Washington (CHE-WA), ICEH, the Toxic-Free Legacy Coalition and the Washington Toxics Coalition hosted a workshop on pollution prevention based on the REACH European chemical management policy. 23rd International Neurotoxicology Conference, September 2006. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller presented posters on LDDI. Plastics and Perchlorate Practice Prevention Columns Published, Fall 2006. ICEH publishedPractice Prevention columns on plastics and perchlorate for the Learning and Developmental Disabilities Initiative. CHE-WA Environmental Justice and Health Disparities Exploratory Session, October 2006. ICEH, acting as coordinator of CHE-Washington, sponsored this session with other groups. The goal of the session was to better understand the existing initiatives addressing environmental injustice and health disparities, assess existing gaps, and explore how community organizations and agencies can collaborate more strategically. Environmental Medicine and Health: Science, Medicine, Prevention And Policy, October 2006. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller presented on the Learning and Developmental Disabilities Initiative (LDDI) at this conference hosted by the Collaborative on Health and the Environment. CHE Annual Retreat, October 2006. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller facilitated this retreat. Washington State Public Health Association Meeting, October 2006. Advisory Board members Kate Davies and Steve Gilbert attended this meeting with ICEH Office Administrator Brittany Gallagher and presented a poster that ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller submitted. National Association for the Dually Diagnosed Conference, October 2006. ICEH Office Administrator Brittany Gallagher presented a poster on LDDI. Fact Sheets Published, November 2006. The Research & Information Working Group of CHE-Washington published printable Fact Sheets corresponding to the topics in the clearinghouse on health and environmental quality in Washington State that they created earlier this year. Environmental Toxicology Conference, November 2006. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller presented at the UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute: Priming for Prevention: The Learning and Developmental Disabilities Initiative. Elise also served on the steering committee for this conference. American Public Health Association Annual Conference, November 2006. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller and ICEH Advisory Board member Kate Davies presented at this conference. The abstract and recording of the sessions are on the APHA website: Reducing Toxic Threats to Child Development: The Learning and Developmental Disabilities Initiative, Keeping Kids Safe from Toxins by Educating Parents and Childcare Providers and How much do environmental diseases and disabilities cost?. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Conference, December 2006. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller presented at this conference and also served on the planning committee. Baby Care Products Practice Prevention Column Published, December 2006. ICEH published a Practice Prevention column on baby care products for the Learning and Developmental Disabilities Initiative. 2007NADD Bulletin Article, 2007. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller published an article in the newsletter of the National Association Dually Diagnosed: Practice Prevention: Children's Environmental Health. Washington State House Select Committee on Environmental Health, January 2007. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller testified during the Children's Environmental Health Hearing, and ICEH Advisory Board member Kate Davies testified during the Green Chemistry Hearing. Lindane Practice Prevention Column Published, January 2007. ICEH published a Practice Prevention column on lindane for the Learning and Developmental Disabilities Initiative. Arsenic Practice Prevention Column Published, February 2007. ICEH published a Practice Prevention column on arsenic for the Learning and Developmental Disabilities Initiative. Conference on Substance Use and Brain Development, March 2007. ICEH Program Manager Aimee Boulanger presented.
Earth Day Celebration, April 2007. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller keynoted and Special Projects Coordinator Nancy Snow staffed a booth at this annual event on Whidbey Island, Washington.
Seattle Times, May 2007 CHE-Alaska Conference, June 2007. ICEH Program Manager Aimee Boulanger presented on LDDI at the Conference on Environmental Justice and Community-based Participatory Research. CHE-Parkinson's Disease Working Group Consensus Conference, June 2007. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller co-organized this conference with Jackie Hunt Christiansen. CHE-WA Member Survey, June and July 2007. With a grant from the Washington Tracking Network, ICEH surveyed CHE-WA members regarding the need for trainings and information in environmental health and the usability of a calendar of events. CHE-WA Searchable Calendar, July 2007. ICEH launched a new searchable calendar of environmental health events for the Pacific Northwest on the CHE-WA website. This calendar interface was modeled on ICEH's ongoing international calendar, with the interface improved through a CHE-WA member survey. Seattle Times, August 2007 LDDI Teleconference Series, September through November 2007. ICEH organized and presented a series of seven calls for the Learning and Development Disabilities Initiative. The series theme was "Priming for Prevention: An Ecological Approach to Research, Education and Policy." Featured speakers included many of the most prominent researchers in environmental health. Resources Database Launch, October 2007. ICEH launched a new searchable database of environmental health resources. Users can search among books, videos, websites, reports and other media according to the target audience, environmental issues and health issues of interest. Utah Bioneers Conference, October 2007. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller presented: Parkinson's, Asthma, Infertility, Learning Disabilities and Autism: What's the Environment Got to Do with It?. Children's Environmental Health Conference, October 2007. ICEH Program Manager Aimee Boulanger spoke at this conference in Berks County, Pennsylvania. Bioneers Conference, October 2007. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller presented at this conference. Neurotoxicology Annual Conference, November 2007. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller organized a half-day meeting on LDDI in conjunction with this conference. Environmental Justice Directory, December 2007. ICEH as coordinator of CHE-WA published a directory of organizations and individuals working on environmental justice in Washington state. The directory was based on listings compiled by Millie Piazza.
2008
Environmental Health Lecture Series, January through April, 2008. ICEH organized the fifth annual lecture series in Seattle sponsored by the Seattle Biotech Legacy Foundation and others. The lecture theme was "Seeking Solutions: Connecting Economics with Health and Environment." Featured lecturers were Robert Costanza, PhD; David Batker, MS; Katherine Davies, DPhil; Cutler Cleveland, PhD; Joshua Farley, PhD; and David Korten, PhD. Toxic Toys Lobby Day, February 2008. ICEH Program Manager Aimee Boulanger attended this event and met with Washington State legislators. Autism Conference, February 2008. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller presented. LDDI Scientific Consensus Statement, February 2008. ICEH led the Learning and Developmental Disabilities Initiative (LDDI) in developing its Scientific Consensus Statement on Environmental Agents Associated with Neurodevelopmental Disorders. ICEH Advisory Board member Steve Gilbert was the lead author of the document. Learning Disabilities Association of America Annual Conference, February 2008. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller presented. Seattle Green Festival, April 2008. ICEH Program Manager Aimee Boulanger, Research and Communications Manager Nancy Snow, and Advisory Board members James Meadows, Jim DiPeso, Janna Rolland and Steve Gilbert staffed a booth at this festival. Looking Upstream: Chemical Contaminants, the Threat to Breastmilk and Connections to Breast Cancer Risk, April 2008. ICEH Program Manager Aimee Boulanger staffed a tabled at this event.
American Association of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Conference, May 2008. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller presented. CHE-WA science call with CHE-Alaska, May 2008. ICEH Program Manager Aimee Boulanger coordinated with call with CHE-AK: "The Global Transport of Persistent Pesticides to the Arctic: Research and International Actions."
KXLY.com, June 2008 Training Resources Clearinghouse Launched, July 2008. Supported by a grant from the Washington Tracking Network, ICEH as coordinator of CHE-WA launched this searchable online clearinghouse of training events and materials. LDDI Policy Consensus Statement, September 2008. ICEH led the Learning and Developmental Disabilities Initiative in developing and publishing a policy consensus statement: Policy Implications Based on the Scientific Consensus Statement on Environmental Agents Associated with Neurodevelopmental Disorders (84 KB PDF file). This policy statement is based on the Scientific Consensus Statement that LDDI published in February 2008 and details specific policy initiatives to be taken to protect children from exposures that are associated with learning and developmental disabilities. King 5 News, September 2008
Parkinson's Disease Consensus Statement Published, October 2008. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller was part of the Parkinson's Disease Working Group of the Collaborative on Health and the Environment (CHE) that published its consensus statement, Parkinson's Disease and the Environment.
Children's Environmental Health Champion Award, October 2008. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller was selected by US Environmental Protection Agency Region 10 as a US Environmental Protection Agency 2008 Regional Children¹s Environmental Health Champion. The Regional Children's Environmental Health Champion Awards recognize ongoing and sustainable dedication to, and notable leadership in, protecting children from environmental health risks at the regional level. LDDI Published an Updated Mental Health Fact Sheet, November 2008. Under ICEH's leadership, LDDI updated and expanded its fact sheet on environmental exposures and mental health. With an emphasis on prevention, this fact sheet provides information on psychiatric symptoms and diagnoses related to each of the environmental agents discussed, as well as sources of exposure and actions that can be taken to reduce exposures. Groups Met with Obama Team, December 2008. ICEH Executive Director and National Coordinator of the CHE Learning and Developmental Disabilities Initiative Elise Miller was invited along with representatives of a diverse set of health-advocacy groups to meet with the Obama transition team in Washington, DC. An article in Market Watch reported the meeting and listed some of the group's concerns and issues.
2009 Transition to CHE, January through May, 2009. Elise Miller, founder and executive director of ICEH, becomes the director of CHE and begins the process of merging ICEH into CHE as the Initiative for Children's Environmental Health. ICEH staff Erika Sanders and Nancy Snow transition to CHE. Local Community Forum, April 2009. ICEH cosponsored a one-day meeting in Clinton, Washington, focusing on education and action related to key environmental issues affecting Puget Sound and South Whidbey ICEH Merges with CHE, May 2009. The Institute for Children's Health has become a working group of CHE and moved its resource-rich website onto the CHE site. Now the Initiative on Children's Environmental Health, ICEH will continue to provide resources and services, including the email bulletins that it had been publishing for the Partnership for Children's Environmental Health. Message from Elise Miller, MEd, founder of ICEH and director of CHE: Dear CHE Partners: We are pleased to announce that CHE will start hosting a new working group later this month – namely, the Initiative on Children's Environmental Health. As many of you know, I served as Executive Director of the Institute for Children's Environmental Health (ICEH) for 10 years before becoming Director of CHE this past January. After a great deal of discussion and reflection, ICEH's staff and board decided that the most useful way ICEH could continue to contribute its decade of national leadership and expertise in this field would be to merge with Commonweal, CHE's fiscal sponsor, and become a CHE Working Group. ICEH, in this new iteration, will use the same acronym, but become the Initiative on Children's Environmental Health. With an emphasis on science and precaution, CHE already focuses on the impact of environmental factors from conception through adolescence. Emerging science on environmental factors and children's health, including the fetal origin of some adult diseases and disabilities, is evident in CHE's array of white papers, consensus statements, workshops, working groups and calls. Having a specific working group focused on children, however, will augment the resources we provide you in this area and help ensure children's health is prioritized in all of our efforts to promote public health research and policy. As a CHE working group, ICEH plans to launch its newly revamped website, including its rich database of searchable articles and other resources, under CHE's website later this month (look for the official announcement). ICEH will also continue to offer biweekly bulletins and will soon feature web-based materials on climate change and children's health. In addition, ICEH will feature the remarkable work of so many of your institutions and organizations – nationally and internationally – already dedicated to children's health. We are in the process of considering other opportunities and activities that would be value-added in this field and welcome your suggestions. With warm regards, New Resource: Climate Change and Children's Health, December 2009. With several recent reports and statements regarding the impact of climate change on health, the Initiative on Children's Environmental Health is excited to provide a new resource page on Climate Change and Children's Health. This page lays out why children are especially vulnerable, what health impacts may be caused or exacerbated by climate change, and actions that we can take as individuals and as groups. A resources section also links to additional information. This new resource will be updated as new information becomes available. Conference Highlights: Translating Science to Policy: Protecting Children's Environmental Health. New Practice Prevention Column on PFCs, April 2010. BP Oil Spill: Keeping Kids Safe! August 2010. The Healthy Schools Network has published this two-page flyer for parents regarding the effects of the Gulf oil spill on children. See the flyer. Children First Conference, October 1, 2010. New program: Eco-Healthy Child Care, October 2010. Practice Prevention Column Updates and Translations, March 2011. |
Magazine Article, November 2005. ICEH Executive Director Elise Miller and Special Projects Coordinator Nancy Snow published an article in 
