Why We Need the NIEHS (the what??)

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Janelle Sorensen

Friday, May 08, 2009

We’ve all heard the endless tales of ineffective, flawed government agencies that fall short on accomplishments. But some actually exceed expectations, and deserve a little recognition for a job well done.

Seriously, I don’t know where we at Healthy Child would be without the work of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). In the world of government acronyms, NIEHS may not be as well recognized as the EPA or FDA, but their work informs those offices and others and lays the foundation for making policy and regulatory decisions.

Because of the research they do and they fund, we know much more about indoor air pollution, hormone disrupting compounds, mercury, and pesticides among other things. Their office is vital to our children’s health and future generations. Based on their work, we have a better understanding of environmental exposures and how to prevent harm.

According to a public service announcement they released in 2000, in the roughly 30 years that they’ve been around, NIEHS’s work has helped:

• decrease air pollution by 64%;
• resurrect 98% of Great Lakes shorelines which used to be polluted, nearly dead and unswimmable; and,
• reduce all toxic emissions by 45% between 1988 and 2000.

I’d say that’s an impressive success story. When the scope of our national problems seems so vast, it's statistics like those that remind us we are making progress and our work makes a difference.

Visit their site to learn about the latest studies, explore their kids’ pages and educational resources with learning activities for K-12 students, or to find information to share with your health care provider. They also fund and edit the on-line journal, Environmental Health Perspectives, which supplies us here at Healthy Child an enormous amount of the science we use to inform you.

Thanks NIEHS!