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Washington StateThe Collaborative on Health and the Environment – Washington

A Partnership Network for Environmental Health
Established and Coordinated by the Institute for Children's Environmental Health
physician and child Seattle Space Needle and monorail smokestacks a child with her grandmother child on a playground girl at a drinking fountain orca Mt. Rainier over Tacoma

Overview

The Collaborative on Health and the Environment – Washington (CHE-WA), established originally as CHE-Northwest in 2003, is a state network of over 330 researchers, healthcare providers, members of health-affected groups, environmental health and justice advocates and other concerned citizens committed to addressing environmental health issues linked to chronic health concerns in Washington State. Our overarching goal is to promote the cross-pollination of ideas and opportunities between different sectors concerned with environmental contributors to chronic health problems in order to create a safe and healthy future for all in the Northwest.

CHE-WA began as CHE-Northwest, a regional offshoot of CHE National. With our Oregonian colleagues starting their own state CHE in February 2005 (CHE-OR), CHE-NW became CHE-WA. CHE-WA and CHE-OR will be working closely together. An umbrella CHE-NW website with sections for each of the state sites is being developed to facilitate information sharing and collaboration on regional issues.

CHE-WA holds regular, face-to-face meetings. During these meetings, we highlight emerging science in the environmental health field, share information on our respective activities, incubate new ideas and opportunities, and invite partners to present on a particular environmental health theme. To access meeting notes and documents, please visit our Meetings page.

CHE-WA currently has several working groups:

  1. the Children's Environmental Health Working Group is working to eliminate children's harmful environmental exposures during their most critical developmental years: pre-conception to age eight.
  2. the Climate Change and Health Working Group, which is working to raise awareness of the impacts of climate change on human health and bring health issues into the discussion.
  3. the Environmental Justice Working Group, which is developing opportunities to create stronger alliances between environmental justice and environmental health and to instill a broader understanding that environmental health and justice are inherently linked.
  4. the Precautionary Principle Working Group, which focuses on incorporating precautionary language in the comprehensives plans for King County and Seattle.
  5. the Research and Information Working Group, which is analyzing data on environmental contributors to chronic health problems and on the environmentally attributable health care costs in Washington State.

CHE-WA also supports the emergence of other working groups that promote activities for the benefit all organizational efforts whether in research, education and/or advocacy.

In addition, CHE-WA has a listserv where new research, upcoming events and policy/regulatory initiatives related to environmental health issues in Washington State are posted. Though CHE-WA does not speak on behalf of all members nor take a stance as a coalition on a specific policy or regulatory issue, members are encouraged to share information on their programs and projects to increase collaboration on relevant initiatives.

We welcome all individuals and organizations that share CHE's mission and values. Though our meetings are in the Seattle area and a number of CHE-WA members are based in eastern Washington or as far as Montana, we try to make all meetings accessible via speaker phone. For more information about CHE, please see www.healthandenvironment.org/ and/or contact Aimee Boulanger, coordinator for CHE-WA, at aboulanger@iceh.org or 360-331-7904.

Note: The website of CHE-WA reflects the emphasis and focus of CHE-WA. The interpretation of scientific information unique to the regional sites is under regional control and does not necessarily reflect CHE National's views. To learn more about CHE National please visit to www.healthandenvironment.org/.

Become a Member of CHE-WA

Please send inquiries about membership to iceh@iceh.org.

Members are invited to participate in the CHE-WA meetings and listserv, receiving our biweekly email bulletins. Members of CHE-WA are also members of the Collaborative on Health and the Environment (CHE), which sends no more than four email messages per month. There are no other membership obligations.

To join the Collaborative on Health and the Environment (CHE) and CHE-Washington, please complete the form at www.healthandenvironment.org/roles/register?&phase=registerform. Be sure to mark that you want to join the Washington State Regional Group at the bottom of the application.

Highlights

Resources: Ways to protect the very young from toxic chemicals

What do we really know about how our children are affected by toxic exposures, especially during their critical developmental years?

Visit this searchable database and find more information on every topic covered in the 2009 Northwest Children’s Environmental Health Forum.

If you are a:

  • Health professional
  • Parent
  • Builder
  • Agency worker
  • School official
  • Policy maker
  • Homeowner
  • Pregnant woman
  • Child care provider

This resource will provide the latest information to help protect the developing child from the effects of harmful environmental exposures.

Limit or expand your search with six categories, including languages.

The Northwest Children's Environmental Health Forum October 1 and 2, 2009

CHE-WA's working group on Children's Environmental Health was thrilled to host more than 300 participants at its Northwest Children's Environmental Health Forum last week, October 1-2, in Tukwila, Washington. A diverse audience participated including healthcare providers, students, scientists, policy makers, elected officials' staff, children's advocates, local citizens and more. Elise Miller, national director of CHE, opened the event with a speech emphasizing the importance of scientific research on the environmental factors impacting our children's health and intellectual potential. Ted Schettler, MD, science director for the Science and Environmental Health Network, framed environmental factors in the broader context of social and economic stresses that together exacerbate children's ability to reach their full potential. Other plenary speakers shared the latest research on environmental factors linked to learning and developmental delays, autism, endocrine systems, and impacts that can be passed down through several generations in a family.

The second day of the forum focused on policy opportunities to better protect children's health. CHE-WA was honored to host Ron Sims, the new Undersecretary for Housing and Urban Development, and Martha Berger, EPA's Office of Children's Health Protection, offering perspectives on national efforts to protect children's environmental health.

To learn more about the forum, including accessing slides and videos, please see the Forum web page. To join CHE-WA's children's environmental health working group, please visit the Children's Environmental Health page.

New host for CHE-WA

CHE-WA is now being hosted by the nonprofit Institute for Neurotoxicology and Neurological Disorders, which is directed by Steve Gilbert, PhD. At the end of May, the Institute for Children's Environmental Health, CHE-WA's founding organization, will merge into California-based Commonweal which hosts the national Collaborative on Health and the Environment program. Elise Miller, ICEH's founder and long-time executive director, is now director of CHE nationally. Through CHE she will be hosting a new national working group on children's environmental health which will allow ICEH's core mission to continue.

Clearinghouse of Training Resources

CHE-WA is pleased to provide a new service to our members: a searchable clearinghouse of training resources available in Washington State. This clearinghouse was supported by a grant from the Washington Tracking Network, a CDC-funded program working to improve the availability and interpretation of environmental public-health information.

This clearinghouse includes not only in-person and online trainings, but also materials from presentations to posters that our members may want to use when conducting their own trainings. Users can search by the type of resource, the target audience and/or the location of the resource.

To access this clearinghouse, use the "Resources" navigation tab at the top of this page or follow this link: http://www.chenw.org/cgi-bin/training.cgi.

Toxic Toys Database

Michigan-based Ecology Center has just released new research on over 1,500 toys in collaboration with the Washington Toxics Coalition and other leading environmental health groups across the country. Parents will be able to easily check how products rank from highest to lowest in terms of lead, cadmium and other chemicals that are associated with reproductive problems, developmental and learning disabilities, hormone problems and cancer. Toys made with PVC, or polyvinyl chloride, were also tested. See www.healthytoys.org.

Climate Change and Health Fact Sheet

The Climate Change and Health Working Group has published a fact sheet: Climate Change and Public Health in Washington (PDF file, 45 KB, 7 pages). Or read the executive summary (PDF file, 29 KB, 2 pages).

Free Home Health Assessment

The American Lung Association of Washington assists residents with home assessments to identify contaminants such as household chemicals, lead, pesticides, dust mites and other allergens that could be making children or families sick. After the assessment, they suggest an action plan filled with low- and no-cost solutions to make a home a healthy place. Either a trained volunteer can come to a home, or residents can follow the Do It Yourself HEAL form posted on ALAW's website.