Children's Environmental Health Center
The Children's Environmental Health Center (CEHC) at Cincinnati Children's, Bruce Lanphear, MD, MPH, Director, was established in 1999 to promote health and prevent disease by conducting research on environmental antecedents of diseases that originate in childhood, especially residential hazards. In 2001 the Center was awarded a NIEHS and EPA funded, five million dollar center grant to pursue five projects focused on the linkage of exposures to prevalent environmental toxicants with neurobehavioral outcomes. The projects include an ongoing Cincinnati Longitudinal Study in collaboration with the University of Cincinnati, Department of Environmental Health, a new cohort study of expectant 400 mothers, and a cross-sectional study of 200 children and have the following goals:
- Identify and define causes of developmental disorders, behavioral problems, growth retardation and hearing loss due to environmental toxicants;
- Develop and validate biomarkers for in utero exposures and environmental monitoring methods for exposure and risk characterization;
- Use rigorous epidemiologic methods to test the safety and efficacy of interventions to reduce exposures to prevalent environmental toxicants;
- Identify adverse effects of lead exposure on social functions, delinquent behaviors and incarceration, conduct disorders and features consistent with ADHD in early adulthood;
- Identify adverse effects of lead on brain functioning using state-of-the-art technology;
- Assist community members to identify and, ultimately, protect their children from adverse effects linked with environmental toxicants.
The projects are as follows:
Project 1 "Neurobehavioral Effects of Prevalent Toxicants in Children," assesses the risks of environmental exposures during two critical developmental phases: in utero and in early childhood.
Project 2 "Validation of Meconium Markers of Fetal Neurotoxicant Exposures," tests the hypothesis that meconium samples can be used for simultaneous analysis of several different environmental toxicants as well as neurotoxic substances to which the embryo and fetus are exposed as a result of maternal consumption.
Project 3 A community based research project, "Identifying Residential Hazards Using Home Test Kits," tests and validates tools for community members to assess levels of contaminants in their home environment and will further strengthen right-to-know laws by providing the community with tools to assess contamination in their own homes.
Project 4 "Early Exposure to Lead and Adult Antisocial Outcome," will determine the relationship between early prenatal and postnatal exposure to lead and antisocial behavior in adulthood.
Project 5 "MR Assessment of Brain Function Altered by Lead Exposure," includes the scientific disciplines of radiology, environmental epidemiology and neuropsychology. The focus of this project is to relate environmental lead exposure with alterations in brain neurochemistry, structure and function using magnetic resonance methods.
