A Silver Anniversary for the Gold Standard in Children's Environmental Health Protection

December 27, 2023

Lead. PFAS. Wildfire smoke. Mold. As a parent or caregiver, you want to do everything in your power to keep your kids happy and healthy. That often includes ensuring your kids aren’t exposed to contaminants like these that might make them sick or affect their ability to grow and thrive. But when issues do arise, you correctly call your child’s primary care physician or pediatrician. You might even check the EPA website!  But what happens when your go-to resources don’t have all the answers?

That’s where the Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Units (PEHSUs) come into play. The PEHSUs are a network of pediatricians, nurses, health educators and other health professionals with special expertise in the prevention, diagnosis, management, and treatment of health issues that arise from environmental exposures, from preconception through adolescence. They’re often associated with universities or academic health centers and are supported by the EPA and the Agency for Toxic and Disease Registry. I like to think of them as environmental health detectives that any parent or medical provider can reach out to with no charge.

Twenty-five Years Supporting Children and Families

Over the past 25 years, the PEHSUs have helped countless children across our nation and their families address adverse health impacts resulting from environmental exposures through consultations, education, and outreach. The PEHSUs are an important source of information and support not only for healthcare providers, but also for parents, schools, childcare centers, and local and state health officials.

As a parent or caregiver, you want to do everything in your power to keep your kids happy and healthy.

These healthcare professionals provide expertise on children’s environmental health. For example, the PEHSU staff provided vital technical assistance to pediatricians during the Flint water crisis after children were being seen with elevated blood lead levels. They worked with local pediatricians throughout the response and then with medical and public health professionals on long-term plans for lead exposure mitigation.

The PEHSUs have also been helpful in communicating to parents and other caregivers about the risks their children face from harmful environmental contaminants such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and asthma triggers such as mold. On-the-ground support by the PEHSUs has included assisting families with resources to help reduce their children’s asthma symptoms by providing donated materials such as vacuums, hypoallergenic mattress covers and pillowcases.

Training Future Environmental Health Leaders

The PEHSUs have trained the next generation of environmental health leaders, including pediatricians, nurses, toxicologists, public health practitioners, and others through fellowships, grand rounds, lectures, and healthcare professional education courses.

Many of these trainees have since become leading voices in federal, state, local and academic institutions where they continue to address children’s environmental issues through public health practice, research, teaching, and community engagement and outreach efforts.

Local Expertise

Our very own EPA regional children's health coordinators work closely with them. By having a PEHSU in each region, efforts can be focused and specialized to the environmental health issues of most concern to their respective communities. For example, the Region 10 PEHSU has expertise on wildfires and air pollution, while the Region 1 PEHSU has a particular expertise in lead exposure.

In addition to consulting with individual physicians and families, the PEHSUs work with community-based organizations to address children’s environmental health issues in traditionally underserved communities. In fact, the work of the PEHSUs is often done through the lens of environmental justice.

During my time in Indiana, PEHSUs were an important partner as we worked to reduce children’s exposure to various environmental contaminants. The regional model allowed the Region 5 PEHSU to be knowledgeable about and tailor their outreach and education efforts to the environmental health priorities most important to parents, caregivers, and public health officials in Indiana.

Please visit pehsu.net for more information.

About the Author

Janet McCabe
Deputy Administrator
EPA

Janet McCabe is the Deputy Administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. She returns to EPA after spending four years as a Professor of Practice at the Indiana University McKinney School of Law and Director of the IU Environmental Resilience Institute and seven years working as Acting Assistant Administrator and Principal Deputy to the Assistant Administrator in the Office of Air and Radiation under President Barack Obama. Prior to joining EPA in November 2009, McCabe was Executive Director of Improving Kids’ Environment, Inc., a children’s environmental health advocacy organization based in Indianapolis.