Maryland health officials are missing critical information on children’s health, such as pesticide exposure and environmental links to asthma.
The gaps in data emerged as officials compiled information for the state’s first comprehensive review of the links between health and the environment.
“We don’t have yet all the information we need to have,” said John Colmers, secretary of the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, speaking at a news conference at the Green School/Afya public charter school in Baltimore Friday.
Officials recognized the need to strengthen surveillance systems and expand the data being collected.
The state health department plans later this year to launch the Environmental Public Health Tracking Network, a database of health and environment information, including some of the indicators detailed in the report released Friday.
This network, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is part of a national push to monitor the health effects of environmental hazards.
“Environmental hazards early in life can have a profound affect on [children’s] development,” Colmers said.
The report, called “Maryland’s Children and the Environment,” compiles statistics from the past 10 to 15 years identified gaps in monitoring of pesticide and mercury levels in children, as well as sparse surveillance of diseases that could have a link to environmental exposures, such as asthma, childhood cancer and neurodevelopmental disorders.
“Better biomonitoring and surveillance could lead to more targeted prevention efforts, especially where racial/ethnic discrepancies are evident,” the report states.
Public health officials should consider collecting data on endocrine disrupters, which are chemicals that affect development, pharmaceuticals in the water, and neighborhood and construction design, according to the report.
“We have more work to do,” said Maryland Department of the Environment Secretary Shari Wilson.
The report also highlights several areas where children’s health has improved, such as lead exposure and outdoor air quality.
The number of children statewide with blood lead levels greater than 10 micrograms/decileter has dropped from 17 percent in 1995 to 1.2 percent in 2006, according to the report.
