ABSTRACT
Children are particularly vulnerable to hazardous substances within their environment.
This heightened susceptibility results from the fact that children are in a progressive state
of growth and development, in utero through adolescence. The obvious implication of this
is that children can receive substantially larger exposures pound for pound than adults to
toxins present in their water, food, or air. Unfortunately, hazardous substances such as
lead, solvents, pesticides, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) have now found their
way into the homes, schools, and playgrounds of all children. Within the discipline of
Pediatrics the availability of specialized expertise to evaluate the relationships between
child health and well-being and the impact of the physical, chemical, and biological
contaminants in the environment has been limited. This deficit promoted the recent
development of a new subspecialty, Pediatric Environmental Health (PEH), whose focus
is to improve and protect children’s health through prevention, education, diagnosis, and
treatment of environmentally-related diseases in children.
