Press Clips

Maryland House of Delegates Unanimously Passes Delegate Jim Hubbard’s Bill on Children’s Environmental Health

In a unanimous 134-0 vote, the Maryland House of Delegates passed a bill [House Bill 313] creating a Children’s Environmental Health and Protection Advisory Council. Delegate Jim Hubbard, author of the bill, said: “This Bill is not only good for children’s health, but it’s also progressive policy. Legislators often react with legislation to policies already in place; very rarely do we get a chance to help create policy on the state level. I personally think this is model legislation for other states to consider in the future.”

Hubbard said recent studies indicate that children are more likely than adults to suffer long-term health effects from exposure to environmental hazards, and that all children are affected by these hazards. Pollution and environmental degradation know no county, state, regional, or national border. Children living in poverty and children in racial or ethnic communities are at disproportionate risk for exposure to environmental hazards.

This legislation coordinates, for the first time, the regulations, rules, and standards of the many state agencies that monitor environmental health issues as they relate to children. The Advisory Council created by the bill will be the formal, and only, state entity whose responsibilities include: monitoring and commenting on state regulations and legislation for their impacts on children’s health; collecting and disseminating information to the public related to children’s health; and, developing uniform guidelines for state agencies to follow to help reduce and eliminate children’s exposure to environmental hazards.

News Articles

• 2/24/03 Reuters: NIH Takes Closer Look at Pollution, Child Health
• 2/21/03 Bay City News: Legislators talk about answers to asthma epidemic
• 2/20/03 New York Times: Better Child Health Is Seen as Environment Ills Decline
• 2/1/03 Tacoma News Tribune: U.S. kids carry more toxins than expected, study finds
• 3/24/99 Los Angeles Times: Smog Study of Children Yields Ominous Results
• 1/20/99 Sustainable Energy and Energy Development (SEED): Four groups criticize pollution exemptions: Environmentalists ask Bush to close loophole
• 11/28/97 Inter Press Service English News Wire: Chemical Hazards Threaten Children

Press Releases

• 10/25/01 National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences: New Children’s Environmental Health Centers to Study Causes of Autism and Other Disorders
• 5/23/01 Center for Environmental Health: Poisoned Playgrounds: Report Cites Danger of Arsenic in Wood; Advocates Plan Lawsuit to Require Warnings
• 3/21/01 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: New CDC Chemical Exposure Report begins to fill critical information gaps in environmental health for the U.S. population
• 04/21/97 White House: Protection of Children from Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks