CHILDREN MAKE UP APPROXIMATELY ONE THIRD OF THE POPULATION IN THE BORDER. THEY NEED
CLEAN AIR TO BREATHE, CLEAN WATER TO DRINK, SAFE FOOD TO EAT, AND A HEALTHY
ENVIRONMENT IN WHICH TO LEARN, GROW AND THRIVE. YET EVERY DAY THEY ARE EXPOSED TO
ENVIRONMENTAL RISKS THAT MAY STAND IN THE WAY OF THOSE BASIC NECESSITIES. PROTECTING
CHILDREN FROM ENVIRONMENTAL RISKS IS FUNDAMENTAL TO THE U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION AGENCY (EPA) AND MEXICO'S SECRETARIA DE MEDIO AMBIENTE Y RECURSOS
NATURALES (SEMARNAT), EFFORTS TO MAKE THE WORLD A HEALTHIER PLACE, FOR PRESENT AND
FUTURE GENERATIONS.
Integrated Pesticide Illness
Surveillance and Education to benefit
Workers and Children along the
Border
Agriculture is Imperial
Valley's second largest
industry. It is successful
thanks to the thousands
of workers who labor in
the fields each year. Due
to the use of pesticides
and other chemicals in
the agricultural industry,
many cases of pesticide
illnesses surface each
year prompting the State of California to
establish a pesticide illness surveillance and
tracking system in 1971. The success of this
system depends on both healthcare providers
reporting cases that they encounter and farm
workers seeking healthcare for their symptoms.
This reporting system becomes challenged along
the U.S.-Mexico Border when a large number of
farm workers visit healthcare providers in
Mexico. In addition to worker exposure, unless
precaution is taken, workers can unknowingly
take contaminated clothing home and expose
other family members and children to pesticides
as well. According to the Census Bureau, 30.8%
of Imperial County's population is under age 18.
To address many of these issues, in 2008, a
Border 2012 grant was awarded jointly to the
California Department of Public Health's
California Office of Bi-national Border Health
(COBBH) and the Baja California Health Services
Institute (ISESALUD in Spanish) to increase the
reporting of pesticide illness and unsafe working
conditions for agricultural workers and to inform
them about their rights and available resources
regarding pesticide exposure and unsafe working
conditions. The project focused on developing a
bi-national pesticide illness surveillance protocol,
conducting a series of trainings for healthcare
providers on both sides of the border, and
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IMPROVING CHILDREN'S HEALTH. WINTER-SPRING 2011
pesticide outreach and education for workers in
Imperial County.
The successes of this project:
• Developed a protocol to facilitate
communication between Mexicali and Imperial
County on bi-national cases of pesticide illness
(being finalized).
• Held trainings for healthcare providers in El
Centre, Heber, and Coachella with
videoconference participation from three
community clinics in Imperial and Riverside
Counties as well as three trainings in Mexicali
and Tecate.
• Created a radio public service announcement
for farm workers in Spanish and in two
different Mexican indigenous languages, which
aired 320 times in Mexicali in May and June
2010.
• Created and distributed 3,300 award-winning
wallet size information cards, hung 60 posters
and 100 flyers and conducted face-to-face farm
worker outreach to 2,200 people in 6 cities.
• Collaborated with numerous key stakeholders
which led to the success of this project.
For additional information about this project
please call COBBH at (619) 688-6483.
Increasing Awareness and
Participation on Children's
Environmental Health Issues.
Young people have special concerns and
responsibilities that relate to our environment
and their engagement is important towards
generating effective responses towards
environmental challenges. Laredo, Texas is
located on the north bank of the Rio Grande
River and maintains a population of 236,941
residents of which 36 percent are under the age
of 18 and 11 percent are under the age of 5 years
of age. Over the years Laredo has experience an
array of environmental
problems dealing with
the issues of water
quality, watershed
management,
household hazardous
waste and air quality.
Recogn izing the
importance of
education and that
outreach serve as efforts to protect the
environment the City of Laredo has begun efforts
to educate the community, specifically within
children, on environmental issues. The message
needed to be clearer as to "why children are
different" when it comes to environmental
health and what type of actions parents can take
to protect their families. Through the leveraging
of funds from EPA's Border 2012 Program, the
City of Laredo was able to develop educational
materials such as a "Guide to a Healthy Home"
and "Greening Cleaning, Recipes for a Clean
Environment" targeted to outreach to parents of
children who were enrolled in local schools and
childcare centers between the ages of 3-10 years.
In joint effort to create an integrated approach
towards addressing the issues of public health
and the environment, the City of Laredo Health
Department, the Environmental Services
Department and EPA partnered up collectively to
launch a children's health outreach effort. The
goal of the effort was to build capacity and
increase knowledge of current children's health
issues and combative strategies through
workshops. The workshops were designed as
train the trainer workshops and youth workshops
centered on emerging children's environmental
health issues such as natural resource
conservation, household hazardous waste
(HHW), recycling, air quality and asthma, indoor
air quality, and water. The overall message was
to explain to the community that children are
more vulnerable to environmental exposures
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U.S.-MEXICO ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAM: BORDER 2012
IMPROVING CHILDREN'S HEALTH. WINTER-SPRING 2011
than adults because they are in a constant stage
of development. The audience for the training
and youth workshops included the medical
community with the Laredo Medical Center and
Pediatric clinics, the nursing staff within the
Laredo Independent School District (USD), and
the Promotoras.
A total of 9 schools within the LISD and United
Independent School District (UISD) received the
training for youth workshops. It was attended by
51 participants ranging from outreach workers,
the medical community, family counselors and
school district custodians and by 5,170
elementary students and 195 parents in the Even
Start Program. As a result the program has
generated an enthusiasm for learning about
healthier lifestyles for themselves and for their
families and serves as a model for success.
Bi-national Cooperation for
Safeguarding Bi-Coastal Waters for
Healthy Beaches in San Diego and
Tijuana
The Tijuana River
Watershed (TRW) is
one of the fastest
growing regions along
the border between
the U.S. and Mexico
stretching about 1750
square miles and consisting of industrial,
agricultural, rural, and open space land. The
constant presence of pollutants, such are heavy
metals and oil, pollute the wastewater and
create health hazards for drinking water and the
coastal environment, particularly in beaches.
This type of pollution creates a high risk for local
and U.S. visitors. With a population of over 1.5
million people, approximately 30% of them
children, the beaches in Tijuana are one of the
most important recreational, free open spaces
for children to visit.
With support from the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) Border 2012 Program federal, state
and local agencies worked with the Proyecto
Fronterizo de Educacion Ambiental A.C. (PFEA) a
non-governmental organization in Mexico, to
develop a project raising public awareness about
environmental health issues related to coastal
water quality. This addresses Goal 1, Objective 3
(monitoring of coastal water quality in beaches),
of the Border 2012 Program. The project
consisted of bi-national environmental education
workshops, environmental education curriculum
for middle and high schools students, and
created an electronic newsletter and web page.
This was the first time that multi-stakeholders
from both the US and Mexico met to address
issues on bi-coastal water quality.
PFEA also organized 3 beach cleanup events in
which an estimated 9,000 volunteers collected
approximately 28,000 Ibs (13,000 kilos) of trash,
including over 30,000 cigarette butts and 10,000
plastic bags, keeping this trash from eventually
entering the Pacific Ocean. Overall, the project
strengthened bi-national constituency through
communication with the "Clean Beach
Committees", including federal, state and
municipal agencies concerning water quality
issues. As a result of these efforts, the beaches
are safer and the children who visit them have
acquired an understanding and are better
informed about the need to keep their beaches
clean.
Improving Environmental Health
Through Community Building.
Human exposure to pesticides can occur through
residues found in food and water and drift from
agricultural activities. However the majority of
these pesticides are found within common
household products. This presents a potential
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U.S.-MEXICO ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAM: BORDER 2012
IMPROVING CHILDREN'S HEALTH. WINTER-SPRING 2011
Hazard to young children because children
frequently come into contact with pesticides
through various forms of residue unwittingly
brought into the home by various actors:
parents, siblings or other extended family
members. Generally, these substances can be
traced to both clothing and skin/hair of
individuals who have been in recent contact with
ground, water or airborne pesticide residue. Such
take-homes exposures put children at serious risk
for acute and chronic illnesses. In a study
conducted in 2000 by the Migrant Health
Program under the Bureau of Primary Health
Care, Texas had the second most farm workers of
any state within the U.S. In addition, Hidalgo
County, with a population of 569,463 residents
(2000 U.S. Census) led all the counties, within the
state of Texas, by having the most migrant and
seasonal farm workers with approximately
40,500 farm workers. Statewide it was estimated
that the number of children and youth (under 20
years of age) of both migrant and seasonal
workers was approximately 129,591.
Through a
coalition of
partners such as
the Association of
Farm worker
Opportunities
Program, the
Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan del Valle, the
Edinburg Children's Hospital, and the UT-Pan
American Youth Council, along with the support
from Border 2012, the Pesticides Awareness
Theatre was created in order to education and
bring forth the issues concerning pesticide use
and impacts on children's health.
The play of "El Moscas y Los Pesticidas" is an
interactive play designed to increase safety
awareness for family and individuals who live and
work in areas that have been treated with
pesticides, while at the same time educate their
understanding of take-home and in-home
pesticide exposure risks. The project addresses
Goal 4 Improve Environmental Health of the
Border 2012 Program.
On October 23, 2010, "El Moscas y Los
Pesticidas" was performed before an audience
over 700 community members of San Juan,
Texas, delivering awareness on the following:
worker safety requirements, basic self-help
actions on improving worker safety and family
exposure, health impacts to adults and children,
and tips on identifying and minimizing pesticide
use.
For additional information about this play or for a
copy of the script and tools required to replicate
it in your community, please visit our website:
www.epa.gov/region6/water/beyondtranslation/2009/
elmoscas.html
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