The monthly issue features assessments of children's exposures to environmental agents such as lead, pesticides, air pollutants and chemical wastes, and their relationship to the risk of disease later in life. Among the major findings:

• Three to four million children and adolescents live within a mile of a federally designated Superfund hazardous waste disposal site and are at risk of exposure to chemical toxicants released from these sites into the air, groundwater, surface water, and surrounding communities. Because of their biological vulnerability, children are uniquely susceptible to health injury resulting from exposures to these toxicants.

• Data from a recent survey of minority children living in economically deprived urban centers in the Newark area indicate that approximately 30 percent of children aged 1-3 years and nearly 60 percent of children aged 4-8 years had calcium intakes below the recommended dietary guidelines. Because dietary calcium is known to decrease gastrointestinal lead absorption, these children are at risk of increased absorption of the environmental lead to which they are exposed.

• A two-year study of children living in the Seattle area revealed a significant association between the number of asthma-related visits to hospital emergency departments and the levels of carbon monoxide and fine particulate matter, even when particle air pollution was below the National Ambient Air Quality Standard.

The issue also features a special section called "Environews" that focuses on current research examining the neurobehavioral consequences of children's exposures to agents such as methylmercury, polychlorinated biphenyls and lead, and a profile of a new children's vaccine against pneumococcal infections that has been shown to be 100 percent effective. The news section also includes research updates on chemical phthalates found in some children's toys, and information on new FDA regulations governing the testing of drugs prescribed to children.

The supplemental issue is divided into two sections, the first of which includes 16 papers based on presentations at an international workshop entitled Indoor Mold and Children's Health, held in Alexandria, Va.

The second section includes papers submitted by senior investigators from the Institute's Children's Environmental Health Research Centers, established jointly with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to conduct basic and applied research on the causes and prevention of environmentally-induced diseases in children. These articles address the basic mechanisms that define children's susceptibility to pesticides and air pollutants, and the impact of these environmental toxicants on their growth and development.

"We are all aware that children are exposed to a variety of environmental hazards," writes NIEHS grants administrator Allen Dearry, Ph.D., in the introductory section. "These health impacts can be particularly detrimental for children because of the pronounced differences in the nature and extent of their environmental exposures when compared to adults."

Note: Reporters may obtain free electronic access to both the monthly issue and the supplement between June 7 and June 21 by logging onto the Environmental Health Information Service at: http://ehis.niehs.nih.gov and using the following username and password. username: media; password: child