Chemical Exposures

Leadership

Kimberly Gray, Ph.D.

Program Director, Population Health Branch
Division of Extramural Research and Training
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, NIH
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Aly Lorenz, M.P.H.

Health Scientist
Office of Children's Health Protection
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Purpose

The purpose of the Chemical Exposures Subcommittee is to coordinate federal research and action to address early-life exposures to chemicals that impact children’s health.

The goals of this subcommittee include:

Enhance coordination of federal research planning and application
- Generate and dissemination of information on existing chemical exposures for interested and affected groups
- Enhance alignment on messaging and activities related to chemical exposures
- Coordinate the development of methods and models to enhance exposure assessment relevant to public health
Lead federal discussions on critical topics, including
- Priority issues related to children’s chemical exposures, including health inequities and environmental racism
- Federal initiatives, such as the Food and Drug Administration Closer to Zero and National Institutes of Health Human Health Exposure Analysis Resource: National Exposure Assessment Laboratory Network
- Emerging areas of interest and research, such as endocrine disruptors and other contaminants of emerging concern
Leverage Task Force expertise to solve problems
- Partnering with clinicians and communities to address specific chemical exposures, including the Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Units
- Promoting programs that encourage sustainable chemicals management, voluntary programs that promote the use of products containing low-toxicity/non-toxic chemicals, and integrated pest management programs that help promote the safe use of chemicals in settings where children are present
- Coordinating commitments to action from agencies across the federal family

Activities

Communications

The ChEx is working to enhance alignment among federal agencies on messaging and activities related to the impacts of chemical exposures to children and measures to protect children’s health. Other efforts are aimed at fostering interagency information sharing, coordination, and collaboration that enhances policy efforts to protect children’s health and safety from exposure to harmful chemicals in the environment.

Accomplishments

Convening Around Chemicals and Children's Health

The newly established ChEx undertook several activities to further its goals including:

Established subgroups within the ChEx aligned with the Purpose and Activities
Convened EPA and NIEHS co-funded Children's Centers researchers at EPA's Cumulative Impacts Research Grantees Workshop in May 2024
Presented on the purpose, activities, and resources of the ChEx Subcommittee at conferences and workshops including:
- American Public Health Association Annual Meeting
- American Neuropsychiatric Association Annual Meeting
- NIEHS Partnerships in Environmental Public Health Workshop on Climate and Environmental Justice
- USA Exposome 2024 Symposium on Children's Health, Environmental Justice, and the Exposome

Cross-Agency Biospecimen Resources Identification Activity

The Subcommittee identified a list of federal agency biospecimen resources that could provide for potential additional measurements of children's chemical exposures. Although the list was for internal government use, the realization that there was no central record of government-supported biobanks helped to lead to the creation of the Children’s Health Exposure Analysis Resource (CHEAR), which was funded from 2015-2019. The goal of CHEAR was to provide tools so researchers can assess the full range of environmental exposures that may affect children's health. In 2019, CHEAR expanded beyond children’s health and became the Human Health Exposure Analysis Resource (HHEAR).