Guiding Principles for Children's Environmental Health

The American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Academy of Sciences have found that children are uniquely susceptible to hazardous environmental exposures. In addition, they have determined that many of these exposures – exposures that may occur before conception and continue through late adolescence – can cause or contribute to disease and disrupt development, learning and behavior. Based on these scientific findings, we unanimously support the following Principles:

• All children have the right to clean air, safe food and drinking water, and consumer and commercial products free of environmental health and safety threats;
• All children have the right to healthy homes, healthy child care facilities, healthy schools and healthy communities;
• All children and adults have the right to know about proven and potential hazards to their environmental health and safety.

It is our mutual responsibility to protect these rights and to act with precaution on decisions that could affect children's health and development.

– The Partnership for Children's Health and the Environment
adopted 1999