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University of California at Berkeley

University of California - Berkeley

The goal of this Center is to establish a forum for the multi-disciplinary approach to understand and reduce the environmental health risks of children. This Center is a joint partnership between the University, the local and State health departments, community clinics, and our community organization, South County Outreach Effort (SCORE). We have brought together a diverse team of specialists representing many disciplines to address the special environmental issues of children.

For this proposal, we have focused on the environmental risks of a largely understudied population of latino farmworkers in Salinas Valley in Monterey County, California. California, with the largest agricultural output of the 50 states, uses 25% of the national total (over 210 million pounds) of pesticides annually, with over 725,000 pounds of organophosphate (OP) pesticides used in the Salinas Valley alone. Furthermore, approximately I million California residents are farmworkers, with Monterey County leading the numbers.

Recently, several studies have demonstrated pesticide contamination in children's homes from agricultural areas. It is estimated that 20-60% of children aged l to 5 years may be exposed to unsafe levels of OP pesticides. Nevertheless, to date, few studies have assessed the extent of children's pesticide exposure, and no studies have examined whether there are adverse health effects of low-level chronic exposure. Farmworker children are exposed by the usual pathways i.e., by ingestion of contaminated foods and from home pest control, as well as through pesticide drift from nearby fields and from the take-home exposures of their parents. Studying this high risk population, we can ascertain whether chronic, low-level exposures may be potentially hazardous.

We will interview and bank biologic and environmental samples from a cohort of 550 pregnant women and their children, who will be followed for 3 years. Our specific aims are: 1) to estimate levels of in utero and postnatal exposures of the child by measuring biologic and ambient samples; 2) to determine whether exposure to pesticides is associated with adverse effects on neurodevelopment and growth, and increased respiratory disease including asthma; and 3) to initiate and evaluate the impact of a 'Healthy Homes' intervention on the reduction of pesticide exposure to children. Our ultimate goal is to translate research findings into a reduction of pesticide exposure to children, and to reduce the incidence of environmentally related childhood disease.

View Projects in Tabular Format

Main Center Abstract and Reports:

Development of Environmental Indicators of Condition,Integrity, and Sustainability in the Coastal Regions of the US Great Lakes Basin
A Western Center for Estuarine Indicators Research which will Develop Indicators of Wetlands Ecosystem Health
Atlantic Coast Environmental Indicators Consortium
Development, Testing, and Application of Ecological and Socioeconomic Indicators for Integrated Assessment of Aquatic Ecosystems of the Atlantic Slope in the Mid-Atlantic States
Southern California Particle Center and Supersite (SCPCS)
Research Center for Particulate Air Pollution and Health
Ultrafine Particles: Characterization, Health Effects and Pathophysiological Mechanisms
Ambient Particle Health Effects: Exposure, Susceptibility, and Mechanisms
Consortium for Estuarine Ecoindicator Research for the Gulf of Mexico (CEER-GOM)
Center for Childhood Neurotoxicology and Assessment
FRIENDS Children's Environmental Health Center
Center for Hazardous Substances in Urban Environments (CHSUE)
Western Region Hazardous Substance Research Center for Developing In-Situ Processes for VOC Remediation in Groundwater and Soil
Urban Waste Management & Research Center (University of New Orleans)
Health Effects Institute (2000-2005)
Hazardous Substance Research Center–South and Southwest
Western Region Hazardous Substance Research Center
Centers of Excellence in Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research
The Johns Hopkins University Center For The Asthmatic Child in the Urban Environment
Centers of Excellence in Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research
CECEHDPR - University of Southern California
Center for Child Environmental Health Risks Research
CECEHDPR - University of Michigan
The Consortium for Plant Biotechnology Research, Inc., Environmental Research and Technology Transfer Program
HSRC (1989) - Great Lakes/Mid-Atlantic HSRC
Midwest Hazardous Substance Research Center
Hazardous Substance Research Center/South and Southwest
Center for Hazardous Substances in Urban Environments (CHSUE)
FDP - Center for Environmental Science
Research Consortium on Ozone and Fine Particle Formation in California and in the Northeastern United States
National Environmental Respiratory Center: Health Hazards of Inhaled Gasoline Engine Emissions and Street Dust
Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health
Environmental Bioinformatics and Computational Toxicology Center
Carolina Environmental Bioinformatics Center
Johns Hopkins Particulate Matter Research Center
Harvard Particle Center
Southern California Particle Center (SCPC)
Rochester PM Center: Source-Specific Health Effects of Ultrafine/Fine Particles
Texas Joint Center for Air Quality
The Center for Advancing Microbial Risk Assessment (CAMRA)
Center for Integrating Statistical and Environmental Science
National Research Program on Design-Based/Model-Assisted Survey Methodology for Aquatic Resources
Inner City Toxicants, Child Growth and Development
Metal Mixtures and Children’s Health
Children’s Environmental Health Center
Center for Children's Environmental Health Research
Center for Child Environmental Health Risks Research
Johns Hopkins Center for Childhood Asthma in the Urban Environment
Carolina Center for Computational Toxicology
University of California – Center for Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology (UC-CEIN)
The Center for Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology (CEINT)
The Texas-Indiana Virtual STAR Center; Data-Generating in vitro and in silico Models of Developmental Toxicity in Embryonic Stem Cells and Zebrafish
The Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health
Mechanisms of Asthma -- Dietary Interventions against Environmental Triggers
Center for Integrative Research on Childhood Leukemia and the Environment (CIRCLE)
Center for Children’s Environmental Health and DiseasePreventionResearch (P01) (joint EPA and NIEHS) - CHAMACOS
Endotoxin Exposure and Asthma in Children
Novel Methods to Assess Effects of Bisphenol A (BPA) & Phthalates on Child Development
Center for Child Environmental Health Risks Research
Formative Center for the Evaluation of Environmental Impacts on Fetal Development
Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research Centers: Formative Centers
Berkeley/Stanford Children’s Environmental Health Center
Perinatal Exposures, Epigenetics, Child Obesity & Sexual Maturation
Great Lakes Air Center for Integrative Environmental Research (GLACIER)
University of Washington Center for Clean Air Research (UW CCAR)
Air Pollution Mixtures: Health Effects Across Life Stages
Health Effects Institute (2010-2015)
National Environmental Respiratory Center
Environmental Research and Technology Transfer Program of The Consortium for Plant Biotechnology Research, Inc.
Health Effects Institute (2005-2010)
Center for Reinventing Aging Infrastructure for Nutrient Management (RAINmgt)
Center for Comprehensive, optimaL, and Effective Abatement of Nutrients
Water Environment and Reuse Foundation (WE&RF)'s National Center for Resource Recovery and Nutrient Management
Lifecourse Exposures & Diet: Epigenetics, Maturation & Metabolic Syndrome
UC Berkeley/Stanford Children's Environmental Health Center
The UCSF Pregnancy Exposures to Environmental Chemicals (PEEC) Children's Center
Children's Environmental Health & Disease Prevention Research Center at Dartmouth
Novel Methods to Assess the Effects of Chemicals on Child Development
Water Innovation Network for Sustainable Small Systems (WINSSS)
Human Models for Analysis of Pathways (H MAPs) Center
Predictive Toxicology Center for Organotypic Cultures and Assessment ofAOPs for Engineered Nanomaterials
Cardiotoxicity Adverse Outcome Pathway: Organotypic Culture Model and in vitro-to-in vivo Extrapolation for High-throughput Hazard, Dose-response and Variability Assessments
SEARCH: Solutions to Energy, AiR, Climate, and Health
Comparing Urban and Rural Effects of Poverty on COPD (CURE COPD)
Center for Indigenous Environmental Health Research
Center for Research on Environmental and Social Stressors in Housing across the Life Course
Center for Native American Environmental Health Equity Research
Center for Research on Early Childhood Exposure and Development in Puerto Rico
Center for Integrative Research on Childhood Leukemia and the Environment
The Columbia Center for Childrens Environmental Health
Center for the Study of Childhood Asthma in the Urban Environment (CCAUE)
A Sustainable Center for Crowd-Sourced Water Infrastructure Modeling
Health Effects Institute (2015-2020): A Partnership for Credible and Relevant Science on the Health Effects of Air Pollution
Initial Annual CEMALB Progress Report: Human Health Effects of Environmental Pollutants

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The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.

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Last updated April 28, 2023