Grant for more than $6 million will establish center on kids' risks from pesticides

The Clinton Administration last week announced the funding of a new UW research center focusing on children’s health risks from pesticide exposure. The new center will be supported by a five-year, approximately $6.6 million award from the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Research will begin this fall in agricultural communities in the Yakima Valley.

The UW center, which will be within the School of Public Health and Community Medicine, is one of eight newly funded Children’s Environmental Health Research Centers. It will investigate the biochemical, molecular and exposure mechanisms that define children’s susceptibility to pesticides and impact their development.

“The role of agriculture in our state’s economic and cultural landscape makes understanding the impact of pesticides on children’s health especially important here in Washington,” said Dr. Elaine Faustman, UW professor of environmental health and director of the new center.

“It is imperative to link state-of-the-art research to community needs,” Faustman said. “Our hope is to conduct valuable research into how children are exposed and how that exposure impacts them. In addition, we hope to serve as a resource to both the local community and scientists studying children’s health.”

The center will bring together scientists, practitioners and community representatives from academia and the Yakima Valley. Research will include laboratory-based projects on how pesticides affect child development and field-based projects identifying how children are exposed to pesticides and developing methods to prevent exposure.

The UW Institute for Risk Analysis and Risk Communication (IRARC), housed within the School of Public Health, will administer the new center. Faustman also directs the IRARC. The new center will work collaboratively with the UW’s Pacific Northwest Agricultural Safety and Health Center, also within the School of Public Health. ¶ Julie Rathbun