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The child care environment is vitally important to the healthy development of millions of young children who receive care outside their homes.  Along with creating a safe, nurturing, and stimulating child care program, protecting children from exposure to indoor environmental contaminants is critical to advancing the core goals of early care and education.  Children are not simply “little adults” when it comes to environmental exposures – they may be more highly exposed to pollutants and more vulnerable to their effects.

This report, prepared by the Environmental Law Institute and the Children’s Environmental Health Network, provides an overview of how state policy addresses indoor environmental exposures in the child care setting.  While there has been considerable progress in establishing policies to address key indoor contaminants, there is ample room for strengthening state laws, regulations, and non-regulatory initiatives.  The report describes the state of state policy today and highlights notable examples to assist policymakers, agency officials, non-governmental organizations and associations, and others who work to advance quality child care and promote children’s health.

The report includes the following chapters:

• Introduction
• Environmental Tobacco Smoke
• Radon
• Carbon Monoxide Alarms
• Mold and Dampness
• Building Ventilation and Temperature
• Pesticides
• Lead-Based Paint
• Asbestos
• Other Chemical Exposures: Cleaning, Renovation, and Consumer Products
• Facility Site/Location
• State Non-Regulatory Initiatives: Education, Assistance, and Incentives
• Conclusion
• Appendix: Where to Find State Statutes and Regulations Online

To learn more and download the full report visit: http://www.eli.org/buildings/reducing-environmental-exposures-child-care-facilities

In recent years, defilement of the air has significantly impacted the health and hygiene of the population at large. In order to address this issue properly, information is needed on the particulates responsible for affecting the quality of air both outdoor as well as indoors. Pollutants vary greatly in their composition, as well as from place to place. Data is required to interpret a correlation between particulates with that of health and hygiene. This information may signify an overall idea about the air that composes an environment and its quality.

Therefore it is essential to have data available to properly manage the local air quality. It is in this context that EDLab has decided to provide Pollen grains and Mold count in the ambient air on a daily basis, available for the general public and professionals interested in this endeavor.

Pure Air Control Services through its AIHA accredited laboratory will be publish the Allergen & Asthma Alert www.pureaircontrols.com on a daily basis Monday through Friday.  A team of aerobiologists, under the supervision of Dr. Rajiv Sahay, FIAS, CIAQP (Laboratory Director of EDLab at Pure Air Control Services), will collect and analyze samples with cutting age technology from an air sampling station located at Clearwater, Florida (Tampa Bay Area 27.97° N and 82.76°W)

Each day the Pollengrains and Mold counts will be compared to the normal indoor environmental quality (IEQ) guideline. The groupings of the trap Pollen grains and Mold/Fungi are rated on a scale ranging from high, medium or low. High counts of these outdoor air quality pollutants correlate to an elevated rating, while low counts suggest reduced exposure to such allergens.

These same counts can be measured indoors. Subsequently, viewers, doctors, patients and allergy sufferers can determine the level of air quality and the corresponding effects upon their individual allergy symptoms.

“The EDLab staff is pleased to make this valuable and important aero-allergen information available to the public in the Tampa Bay area. It is important to raise our awareness to outdoor and indoor air quality issues, which affect our health and well-being, and the AAA is contributing to that awareness,” states Dr. Sahay.

LAUSD Nursing Services and the Office of Environmental Health and Safety collaborated with media students to put together three PSAs to help their peers avoid common astham and allergy trigers.  The PSAs will educated students teachers and general population on triggers such as indoor air pollution from blocked vents and exposure to fragrances found on common cleaning produts, air freshneres, perfumes and aerosol sprays.  The students PSAs contributed to the school winning the Distinguished Achievement Air Health Award from California Breathing.