NIEHS/EPA Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research Centers

Protecting Children’s Health for a Lifetime

For many reasons, children are likely to be more vulnerable than adults to the effects of environmental contaminants. To better understand the effects of these exposures on children's health, the NIEHS/EPA Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research Centers (Children's Centers) were established to explore ways to reduce children's health risks from environmental factors. The program is jointly funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and by EPA through the Science to Achieve Results (STAR) grants program.

The NIEHS/EPA Children’s Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Centers Impact Report: Protecting children’s health where they live, learn, and play, highlights some of the important contributions the centers have made toward reducing the burden of environmentally induced or exacerbated diseases placed on children. The report provides examples of success in the community and in support of public health. It is organized in three section: health outcomes, environmental exposures and hallmark features. The Health Outcomes section presents scientific findings from the Children’s Centers on diseases that sometimes affect children. The Environmental Exposures section presents research findings on chemicals and pollutants children are commonly exposed to through air, water and food. The Hallmark Features section highlights the unique features that have facilitated the work of the Children’s Centers and advancements in the field. Read the full Children's Centers impact report.

Center Program Goals: The long-range goals of the program include understanding how environmental factors affect children's health, and promoting translation of basic research findings into intervention and prevention methods to prevent adverse health outcomes. Learn more about NIEHS/EPA CEHC Program Goals.

Multidisciplinary Program: fostering research collaborations among basic, clinical and behavioral scientists with participation from local communities.

The NIEHS/EPA Children’s Centers continue to contribute to understanding complex interactions between the environment, genetics and other factors and how those interactions may affect children’s health from preconception to young adulthood.

Emerging Areas of Research Include

• Obesity: What is the role of environmental factors in the epidemic of obesity among our nation’s children?
• Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals: How are widespread exposures to chemicals that interfere with the body’s hormones affecting children, particularly during vulnerable windows of development?
• Epigenetics: How do modifications to DNA resulting from diet, aging, stress and/or environmental exposures affect our children or our grandchildren?

Learn more about children's health, the environment and what you can do: Protecting Children's Environmental Health