Brussels, 10 November 2005 - The European Public Health Alliance Environment Network (EEN) (1) is launching a campaign today (2) to stimulate more action on child health in Europe. The website that forms the basis of the campaign is entitled “Healthier environments for Children”. (3)

Pollution of the air, water and food is increasing. Its effects cause more damage to babies and children than to adults. Rising cancer rates, asthma and allergies among children are the greatest cause of concern. Recent WHO figures (4) show that one in 650 children in Finland will develop cancer before their 15th birthday. More than one in four children in the UK and Ireland have asthma. (4) While accidents, especially on the roads, remain a major cause of death, cancer, asthma and allergies are becoming major destructive forces in the quality of children’s lives.

The EEN campaign aims to do three things. “First, we want to make the facts known to policy makers and the public,” says Génon Jensen, EEN Director. “Second, we want to show what non-governmental organisations are doing to bring about change. Finally, we hope the website can help us stimulate more government action to protect children’s health.”

EEN is working closely with the World Health Organization on this initiative. The EEN website will be linked to WHO’s website on the Children’s Environment and Health Action Plan for Europe (CEHAPE) (5), which urges governments to take action in this area.

One of the projects showcased on the EEN website comes from rural Romania where safe drinking water remains a major problem due to both bacterial and chemical contamination. “Eco-sanitation” was introduced by Women in Europe for a Common Future. This involves putting filters on taps, safety information for those using wells for drinking water, “dry separation” for outside toilets, and opportunities for reduced use of pesticides in agriculture. (6)

Another project featured on the EEN website aims to give more young people the opportunity to cycle safely to school. Sustrans, a UK NGO, is working with schools in York to copy a project that has already been successful in Denmark. The project involves introducing safety zones (including speed limits), school travel plans, and the young people taking part in road safety training programmes. The changes in Odense, Denmark led to an 85% reduction in the number of accidents involving children on journeys to school. The project also meant that half of all children in this Danish city now feel safe enough to cycle to school. Those involved in the UK project hope to reach similar benefits there. (7)

The EEN website also aims to showcase how policy development can contribute to change. For example, it will feature examples of how young people can help to influence policy making. One example is the EEN video featuring young people’s views on health and the environment. The video was shown to 2,000 policy makers at the Budapest meeting on children’s environment and health in 2004 where the CEHAPE document was signed by governments. It gives young people in four European countries an opportunity to express their concerns about the environments in which they live and to make recommendations on how they would like to see things change. Some of the same students to appear in the video will be in Brussels today at an EEN workshop to put their views to European policy makers on the need for EU chemical safety policy, known as REACH. EEN hopes that the special message young people can bring may help to influence the outcome on this important piece of EU legislation.

The website will also help to monitor how seriously national governments are taking their commitments on CEHAPE. (8) Some governments, such as in Belgium, have listed priorities and are organising consultations with national non-governmental organisations on implementation of their plans. (9)

For further information, please contact: Génon Jensen, Director, European Public Health Alliance Environment Network (EEN), Brussels, Belgium. Tel: +32 2 233 3885. E-mail: genon@env-health.org Websites: www.env-health.org or Diana Smith, EEN Communication, +33 6 33 04 2943 (mobile)

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Notes to journalists

1. European Public Health Alliance - Environment Network is an international non-governmental organizations advocating environmental protection as a means to improving health and well-being. 2. EEN will launch its “Healthier environments for children” website on Thursday, 10 November 2005 at EPHA Environment Network workshop on "Young people’s investigation on chemicals and health" in the framework of a wider UK Presidency Associated event in Brussels organised by the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) entitled “Future Europeans: the right start in life for children and young people in Europe ” http://children.epha.org/ 3. EEN website, “Healthy environments for Children”, www.cehape.env-health.org Link from EEN website at http://www.env-health.org/a/1851 4. The European Health Report 2005, http://www.euro.who.int/ehr2005 Annex: Statistical tables 6 and 7 5. The EEN campaign website will be linked to WHO’s own website on CEHAPE implementation (http://www.euro.who.int/eehc/ctryinfo/ctryinfo). 6. www.cehape.env-health.org “Case Studies” 7. www.cehape.env-health.org “Case Studies” 8. The Children’s Environment and Health Action Plan for Europe (CEHAPE) and a Ministerial Declaration were both signed all 52 governments in the WHO European Region signed at a ministerial conference on Children’s Environment and Health, organised by the World Health Organization and held in Budapest in 2004. 9. www.cehape.env-health.org “Belgium”