Children today are exposed to a complex mixture of toxic chemicals through the air they breathe, the food they eat, the water they drink, and the products they use every day. From pesticides and plastics to industrial pollutants and household chemicals, these exposures pose significant threats to healthy growth and development. Because children’s bodies are still developing, they are uniquely vulnerable—absorbing more toxicants relative to their size, and experiencing effects that can last a lifetime.
Scientific evidence links toxic chemical exposures to a wide range of childhood health issues, including asthma, neurodevelopmental disorders, hormone disruption, early puberty, and increased risk of cancer. These harms not only affect children in the present but also increase their risks of chronic disease as adults. Despite decades of research, many harmful chemicals remain unregulated and widely used, leaving children and families without adequate protections.
In this CHE Alaska webinar, speakers examined the latest science on how toxic chemicals impact children’s health, highlighted gaps in policy and protections, and explored opportunities for prevention. Speakers shared how we can reduce exposures in our homes and communities, strengthen public health safeguards, and work collectively to protect the health and future of the next generation.
Featured Speakers
Nsedu Obot Witherspoon, MPH is the Executive Director for the Children’s Environmental Health Network (CEHN) and a key spokesperson for children’s vulnerabilities and the need for their protection. She holds leadership roles in many spaces, including the External Science Board for the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes at NIH, the Health/Science initiative of the Cancer Free Economy Network and the National Environmental Health Partnership Council. Witherspoon is also a member of the Board for Pesticide Action Network North America and the Environmental Integrity Project, and serves on the Maryland Children’s Environmental Health Advisory Council. One of CEHN’s leadership awards, the Nsedu Obot Witherspoon (NOW) Youth Leadership Award, is named in her honor. She is also a recent recipient of the William R. Reilly Award in Environmental Leadership from the Center for Environmental Policy at American University and the Snowy Egret Award from the Eastern Queens Alliance.
Philip Landrigan, MD, MSc, FAAP is Professor of Biology and the founding director of the Global Public Health Program and Global Observatory on Planetary Health at Boston College. He is a pediatrician, public health physician and epidemiologist. His research uses the tools of epidemiology to elucidate connections between toxic chemicals and human health, especially the health of infants and children. A study led by Dr. Landrigan in the 1990’s at the National Academy of Sciences defined children’s unique susceptibilities to pesticides and other toxic chemicals and catalyzed fundamental revamping of US pesticide policy. From 2015 to 2017, he co-chaired the Lancet Commission on Pollution and Health, which reported that pollution causes 9 million deaths annually and is an existential threat to planetary health. He recently led the Minderoo-Monaco Commission on Plastics and Human Health, which produced an extensive analysis of plastics’ negative impacts on the health and well-being of vulnerable populations, the environment and the economy.
Tracey Woodruff, PhD, MPH is the director of UCSF PRHE and UCSF’s Earth Center. She is a leading scientist who has produced seminal research on how harmful chemicals and pollutants impact health, pregnancy, and child development, including the first international study to document the effects of air pollution and preterm birth and the first to document toxic chemicals in pregnant women and newborns. A national expert in chemical and regulatory policy, Dr. Woodruff was a senior scientist and policy advisor for the U.S. EPA’s Office of Policy prior to joining UCSF.
This webinar will be hosted by the CHE-Alaska Partnership, which is coordinated by Alaska Community Action on Toxics (ACAT). Driven by a core belief in environmental justice, ACAT empowers communities to eliminate exposure to toxics through collaborative research, shared science, education, organizing, and advocacy.