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Northwest Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit Receives Distinguished Award

Release Date: 10/11/2007
Contact Information: Margo Young, (206) 553-1287, young.margo@epa.gov Tony Brown, (206) 553-1203, brown.anthony@epa.gov

(Seattle, Wash. – Oct. 11, 2007) Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded the Northwest Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit (PEHSU) the Children’s Environmental Health Excellence Award recognizing their leadership in protecting children from environmental health risks. The NW PEHSU is one of ten winners of this national award.

The Children’s Environmental Health Excellence Award aims to increase awareness and stimulate activity by recognizing efforts that protect children from environmental health risks at the local, regional, national, and international level.

The NW PEHSU, located at the University of Washington, is one of eleven centers in the U.S. that provides professional advice to the health care community and parents on particular environmental agents of concern, such as lead, mercury, and pesticides. The NW PEHSU also offers a wide variety of training opportunities for public health professionals and communities.

“It’s organizations like the NW PEHSU and the partnerships created by them that provide meaningful education to the public and health care professionals about harmful environmental exposures,” said Elin Miller, EPA Region 10 Administrator. “The important work that the PEHSU does results in healthier children.”

The University of Washington, home to the NW PEHSU, was recently named one of twenty-two new study centers that will manage participant recruitment and data collection for the National Children’s Study. This study will follow more than 100,000 U.S. children from birth to age 21 to examine the effects of environmental influences on their health and development.

Additionally, 2007 marks the tenth anniversary of the President’s Executive Order on Children’s Health. The Executive Order made consideration of children’s health protection mandatory across all federal agencies.

To learn more about children’s environmental health, the PEHSU, and the National Children’s Study, please visit:
https://yosemite.epa.gov/ochp/ochpweb.nsf/content/chm07.htm
https://yosemite.epa.gov/r10/ECOCOMM.NSF/Programs/Childrens+Homepage
http://depts.washington.edu/pehsu/
http://www.nationalchildrensstudy.gov/
https://yosemite.epa.gov/ochp/ochpweb.nsf/content/whatwe_executiv.htm
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