How much do environmental hazards cost California in terms of children's health? 

The California Environmental Health Tracking Program (CEHTP) announces the release of a report entitled Costs of Environmental Health Conditions in California Children, which describes the economic costs due to the environment for four childhood health conditions: asthma, childhood cancers, lead exposures, and neurobehavioral disorders.  

report

Participating in a multi-state effort coordinated by the National Environmental Public Health Tracking Program, we found that preventable environmental hazards are responsible for a significant health and economic burden on children and families in California. In examining the environmentally-related costs of four childhood health conditions, we found that: 


 

  • Preventable environmental hazards cost California $254 million every year and $10 -13 billion over the lifetime of all children born every year

     

  • Lead exposures had the greatest overall financial impact of the four health conditions, resulting in lost earnings of $8 -11 billion over the lifetime of children born each year

     

  • Asthma had the greatest financial impact on an annual basis, costing families and the state over $208 million every year

     

  • For California specifically, the environment contributes to 30% of the childhood asthma burden and 15% of the childhood cancer burden

 


 

View the full report and other materials at www.phi.org/CEHTPKidsHealthCosts.

 

 


This work was funded by the National Environmental Public Health Tracking Program and conducted as part of a multi-state collaboration with other grantee programs.  

To learn more about the National EPHT Program, visit  ephtracking.cdc.gov.   
The California Environmental Health Tracking Program is a program of the Public Health Institute.  Learn more about PHI at www.phi.org.
This publication was supported by the Cooperative Agreement Number 2 U38 EH000953-04, funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.