The President’s Task Force on Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks to Children is the focal point for coordinating federal government efforts to explore, understand, and act together to improve children’s environmental health and safety.
Learn More Aboutthe Task Force
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Featured Activities
In 2023, UNICEF, part of the United Nations, established the Children’s Environmental Health Collaborative to galvanize international action to address children’s environmental health issues. The Collaborative engaged partners to amplify UNICEF’s work to protect children’s environmental health. As part of Children’s Health Month in October, the co-chairs of the Steering Committee of the President’s Task Force on Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks to Children (Task Force) recorded a video for the Children’s Health Collaborative.
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Featured Resources
Wildfires can impact populations, including children, in many ways. Understanding the risks and health effects of wildfires, having up-to-date status of wildfire exposure and air quality, and outlining actions that can help to decrease the impact of these events can help families and communities protect their health. The Subcommittee on Climate, Emergencies, and Disasters of the President’s Task Force on Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks to Children has compiled this list of publicly available wildfire and health resources to assist families and communities in protecting children’s health during and after such events.
Focus Areas
Asthma Disparities
The Task Force works to address preventable environmental factors that lead to differences in the burden of asthma for poor and minority children relative to their peers.
Chemical Exposures
The Task Force promotes understanding and predicting disease and disabilities in children across their life stages that result from exposure to chemicals and metals, including pesticides, manufacturing ingredients, lead, and others, is a focus of the Task Force.
Climate, Emergencies, and Disasters
The Task Force seeks to identify key strategies to understand and address climate change impacts on children's health and safety and to inform federal agencies and others engaged in climate change mitigation, adaptation, and response.
Lead Exposures
The Task Force coordinates interagency efforts to better understand and prevent disease and disabilities in children from lead, including development of a new federal lead strategy.