Thunder Bay District Health Unit : Children's Environmental Health

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Why are Chldren and Pregnant Women More at Risk to Contaminants?

What Types of Contaminants are Found in the Environment?

How Can I Help Reduce the Risks?

What's Happening in Thunder Bay?

What's Happening at the Provincial and Federal Level?

How Do I Get More Information about Presentations and Train-the -Trainer Sessions for My Organization?

Where Can I Get More Resources?

Why are Children and Pregnant Women More at Risk to Contaminants?

Children eat, drink and breathe more than adults. They also have a faster metabolism. They are exposed to more contaminants found in the air, soil, dust, water, food and consumer products.
Children do things differently than adults. Small children explore the world by crawling and are closer to the ground where more contaminants are found. Children tend to put dirty hands and objects in their mouths.
Children go through many growth and development stages. There are many different stages of growth from conception, birth, childhood to 18 years of age. Exposure to contaminants at various stages can affect how a child develops.
Risk is greatest in the womb. Different organs and systems develop during the nine months of pregnancy. Many contaminants easily cross the placenta and reach the fetus. Even low levels of exposure to certain chemicals can affect the health of a developing fetus.
Children have a longer lifetime ahead of them. Exposure to some contaminants can cause permanent damage right away. Other contaminants can build up and be stored in body fat, bone or brain tissue where health problems may not become obvious for a long time, or until adulthood.

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What types of Contaminants are Found in the Environment?

There are many types of contaminants found in the indoor and outdoor environment. We all come into contact with them through air, consumer products, dust, food, soil and water.

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How Can I Help Reduce the Risks?

We cannot control everything about our environment but simple lifestyle changes you do at home or at work can create a healthier environment.

These handy checklists can help identify what you are currently doing and what changes you can make to improve your home and work environments. The checklists are free to download.

Home Environment Checklist

Workplace Environmental Health Checklist

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What's Happening in Thunder Bay?

An old African proverb states that "it takes a village to raise a child". We are fortunate to have many organizations and initiatives working towards making our community an environmentally safe and comfortable place for children to live.

Click on the images below to find out more !

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What's Happening at the Provincial and Federal Level?

The Canadian Partnership for Children's Health and the Environment (CPCHE) is a multi-sectoral collaboration of twelve organizations with expertise in issues related to children, health, public health and the environment. CPCHE partners have been working together since 2001 to protect children's health from environmental pollutants and toxic chemicals by moving children's environmental health issues into the minds of decision-makers, service-provider organizations, individual practitioners, parents and the public. The report First Steps to Lifelong Health focuses on a vision and strategy for children's health and the environment in Canada.

In 2009, The Union of Ontario Indians Anishinabek Health Secretariat in collaboration with other partners produced a manual entitled Through the Eyes of a Child: First Nation Children's Environmental Health. The manual looks at some of the environmental issues that are affecting First Nation children on and off reserve in Ontario.