Environmental Health Disparities: Cultivating Future Leaders

Children living in circumstances of social and economic disadvantage are at greater risk for experiencing health conditions related to environmental factors. They often become trapped in the cycle of environmental health disparities because of poor and limited educational opportunities, lack of access to quality health care services and limited social and political capital. “Break the Cycle” is an annual student/mentor program that was started in 2005 to address these health disparities. It brings the efforts among students of all disciplines focused on increasing the understanding of social and economic disparities in relation to environmental conditions and resulting health outcomes. “Break the Cycle” has grown in influence and geography, with an increasing number of student researchers participating each year. As a testament to its deep reach and inspiration, some of these students have changed their academic focus and professional goals following their participation in “Break the Cycle,” bringing to the field of children’s environmental health the numbers, passion, and commitment necessary to address complex issues. This book is a compilation of eight chapters concerning the 17th annual Break the Cycle program. The book begins with a general overview of the program and presents some recent data. The second chapter examines the outcomes of the Break the Cycle program from the perspective of one of its long-term mentors. The problems and impacts in Latin American communities are discussed in Chapter Three. In Chapter Four, the authors explain their findings from their systematic evaluation of studies of children's blood Pb in the United States published since 2005. The authors conducted research in Chapter Five to investigate the impact of consuming unfiltered private well water on children's lead exposure. The authors' purpose in Chapter Six was to identify the issues and health priorities of their patient group at Boston Children's Hospital's Pediatric Environmental Health Center (PEHC) to help guide visits. The goal of Chapter Seven was to determine if changes in maternal education between birth and 15 years of age moderated the relationship between maternal health conditions and positive child health at age 15 years. The final chapter presents the outcomes of a study conducted in a pregnancy cohort in New York City, in which individuals were examined for exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons during the third trimester of pregnancy.