Governance Instruments That Protect Children's Environmental Health: Is Enough Being Done?

We describe our efforts to find and assess governance instruments: laws, regulations, guidelines, addressing specifically the issue of children's environmental health in OECD countries in the European Union (EU) and in the United States of America (US). The ultimate purpose is to inform policy that will further Canada's commitment to children's environmental health.

Among governance instruments found, most EU country governance instruments duplicated EU Directives; American governance instruments were found at both the federal and state level. With a few clear exceptions, the effects of environmental agents on the child have not been considered specifically in those OECD governance instruments that address environmental health concerns. We found multiple governance instruments with a clear children's environmental health focus, but little emphasis on the uniqueness of children. We also found laws not specifically addressing children in the text, but which clearly involved concern for child health. Some legislation was impeded because of scientific uncertainty, which, on occasion, appeared to be industry-driven. The precautionary principle appeared to be applied most frequently in European legislation. We conclude that children's environmental health is not well-addressed for the majority of laws relating to the environment.