A Life Stage Approach to Assessing Children’s Exposures

Background Considering risks to infants and children as part of risk assessments are of primary importance to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In 1995, EPA issued a policy for “Evaluating Health Risks to Children” (U.S. EPA, 1995), to ensure that risks to infants and children are consistently and explicitly a part of risk assessments conducted in support of the decision making process. Subsequently, the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) and the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996 established provisions requiring the consideration of children in setting health standards (U.S. Congress 1996 a, b). In 1997, the President of the United States signed the Executive Order (E.O.) 13045, “Protection of Children from Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks.” This executive order states that “each Federal agency: (a) shall make it a high priority to identify and assess environmental health and safety risks that may disproportionately affect children; and (b) shall ensure that its policies, programs, activities, and standards address disproportionate risks to children that result from environmental health risks or safety risks” (E.O. 1997). These initial efforts provided the foundation for a series of initiatives within the EPA to address children’s risks from environmental contaminants. For example, the Voluntary Children's Chemical Evaluation Program (VCCEP), initiated by EPA in 2000, is intended to provide data to enable the public to understand the potential health risks to children associated with certain chemical exposures. The EPA Draft Final Guidelines for Carcinogen Risk Assessment and the Supplemental Guidance for Assessing Cancer Susceptibility from Early-Life Exposure to Carcinogens explicitly call for consideration of possible susceptible subpopulations and/or life stages (such as childhood) (U.S. EPA 2003a, b). As another example, the proposed Utility Mercury Reductions Rule, published January 30, 2004, intends to reduce mercury emissions from oiland coal-fired electric utility steam generating units. Because of its toxicity to developing cells, methylmercury and inorganic mercury are pollutants of concern for very young children and women of child-bearing age.