We have effectively disconnected the environment programs from our children’s health

Most of our environmental protection programs were created to address threats to our health. We set health-based standards and designed regulatory programs to achieve those standards. However, as the environmental regulatory programs have evolved and grown, the connection between the environmental program and the underlying health goal has grown weak. The feedback loops needed to ensure that the program continues to achieve the health goals and that the program is revised to reflect new science regarding the health goals are typically ineffective and, in some cases, nonexistent. This disconnect is reflected not only in the program but also in how businesses and communities respond to it.

The problem is most significant at the regional and state level. State environmental agencies are the primary agencies responsible for implementing most environmental regulatory programs. In this role, states tend to focus on implementing the program and meeting U.S.EPA’s requirements and expectations. The U.S. EPA Regional Office oversees this implementation. Because of this focus, the state environmental regulatory programs often do not reflect state health goals and concerns.

In addition, U.S.EPA’s reliance on piecemeal delegation of distinct regulatory programs has created disconnects between the environmental regulatory programs. Environmental protection has become compartmentalized. We have an air program, a waste program, a water program, a lead program, etc. The push for multimedia efforts by many states is an effort to reverse this tendency. If environmental regulatory programs administered by the states have challenges viewing the environment in a multimedia context, it is no wonder that we have disconnected it from children’s health.

Complicating this issue is the trend in most states, including Indiana, to establish an environmental agency apart from our health agencies without strong institutional links that reflect the intimate connection between our health and our environment. Environmental activities are often not driven by state or regional health priorities, and we typically do not measure the success of our environmental activities in terms of tangible health benefits. The health agency often assumes the environmental agency is handling the environmental threats, and the environmental agency is responding to federal priorities.

The result is a system of regulatory momentum that is disconnected from children’s health.

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