On October 10, the ATS, in collaboration with the Friends of National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), American Academy of Pediatrics and other partners, held a successful U.S. Congress briefing on child health entitled, A Healthy Start for Every Child: How the Environment Influences Health and Development. The focus of the briefing was heavy metal exposures, such as from arsenic, lead and mercury, through water supplies, power plant emissions and food.

The event featured a panel of three speakers, including NIEHS Director Linda Birnbaum, Ph.D.; Margaret Karagas, Ph.D., Chair of the Department of Epidemiology at Dartmouth College; and Rebecca Fry, Ph.D., Carol R. Engle Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina School of Public Health. The panel discussed health effects such as gestational diabetes in pregnant women and low birthweight in babies caused by such exposures. Dr. Fry also described the NIEHS-funded Well Empowered study at the University of North Carolina which is providing water filters to affected communities locally.

From right to left: Joe Laakso, Endocrine Society, Margaret Karagas, Ph.D., Linda Birnbaum, Ph.D., Rebecca Fry, Ph.D., and Nuala Moore, ATS Staff.