FYI - passing on info on just released EPA handbook on assessing child-specific environmental pollution exposure factors. Note that in the US children are more likely to be in poor households and live in low-income neighborhoods with higher levels environmental pollutants, and that children of color are at even greater risk from the excess burden of LULUs (locally undesirable land uses) & pollution sources sited in majority-"minority" communities. Add on top of that differentials in playground & schools construction & maintenance across the socioeconomic geographies of municipalities, under-/de-funding of environmental remediation programs, and the active resistance of corporate polluters. From: [log in to unmask] [[log in to unmask]] Sent: Tuesday, November 03, 2009 8:30 AM Subject: FYI / EPA: Highlights of the Child-Specific Exposure Factors Handbook Highlights of the Child-Specific Exposure Factors Handbook http://cfpub.epa.gov/ncea/cfm/recordisplay.cfm?deid=200445 EPA Releases Guide to Help Scientists Understand Children’s Exposure to Pollutants Release date: 10/27/2009 Contact Information: Skip Anderson, [log in to unmask], 202-564-9551, 202-564-4355 WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today released a user-friendly document to help risk assessors understand how children are exposed to pollution. The document, titled “Highlights of the Child-Specific Exposure Factors Handbook,” serves as a quick-reference guide to the more comprehensive “Child-Specific Exposure Factors Handbook,” published by EPA in 2008. It will serve as an additional resource for those who work on children’s health issues, which the agency has been highlighting during Children’s Health Month. EPA developed the reference guide to provide important information necessary for answering questions about exposure through drinking water, breathing, and eating foods, such as: How much exposure to environmental pollutants might children get if they live or play near contaminated sites? How much dirt from a child’s hands might s/he inadvertently eat? How much of a child’s exposure to various pollutants might come from skin contact? Which age groups (childhood life stages) may inhale or ingest the most and thus may be at higher risks? More information on the documents: http://www.epa.gov/childexpfactors/highlights -- Alice Furumoto-Dawson, PhD/MPH Senior Research Associate Center for Interdisciplinary Health Disparities Research Institute for Mind & Biology University of Chicago Chicago, IL - USA http://cihdr.uchicago.edu/ To leave, manage or join list: https://listserv.yorku.ca/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=sdoh&A=1