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EPA gives $117,747 to Mich. Inter-Tribal Council to raise awareness of environmental health risks to women

Release Date: 02/06/2008
Contact Information: Phillippa Cannon, 312 353-6218, [email protected]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
No. 08-OPA014


CHICAGO (Feb. 4, 2008) - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has given $117,747 to the Michigan Inter-Tribal Council, Sault Ste. Marie, to educate health care providers and women of child-bearing age on environmental health risks. EPA recently awarded more than $500,000 in similar grants nationwide.

The Michigan grant will support efforts to bring the message of environmental risks of mercury, lead, environmental tobacco smoke, and drinking water contaminants directly to Native American women of child-bearing age.

"We're giving pregnant women information on how to avoid exposure to certain environmental hazards to give children a healthy start to life," said Dona Deleon, acting director, EPA's Office of Children's Health Protection and Environmental Education. "These grants help the public health community reach women during this important time in their lives."

Pregnancy is a time for joy and celebration, but it is also a time to be especially careful about the environment in which one works and lives. There is a relationship between the mother's environment and the health of
the developing fetus. Various behaviors and experiences are associated with adverse health outcomes for both the mother and infant. These experiences can occur before, during and after pregnancy.

The grants are projected to reach approximately 3,000 health care providers and 10,000 women of child-bearing age nationwide. Information about all of the grants is available at https://yosemite.epa.gov/ochp/ochpweb.nsf/content/prenatalgrants.htm