Topic: Environmental Exposures and Children Health

Children are particularly vulnerable to environmental agents in their living environments. According to the hypothesis of early-life origins of adult disease, environmental exposures during childhood have profound and lasting effects on disease susceptibility and health status later in life. Research gaps remain regarding children’s environmental health. Children are exposed to numerous emerging chemicals, such as microplastics, new pesticides, food additives and preservatives, and plasticizers. Their exposure scenarios have changed significantly due to factors such as increased screen time, reduced outdoor activity, consumption of processed foods, and rapidly changing built environments. In addition, co-occurring social and psychological factors may modify the health effects of environmental exposure.

This special issue aims to provide a forum for showcasing new advances and findings, including preliminary ones, in the broad area of environmental exposure and children’s health. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to: children’s exposure to conventional and emerging environmental agents; health effects from individual and mixed environmental stressors; source contributions to total exposure; new technologies for accurate or rapid exposure measurements, e.g., AI tools, satellite data, wearable devices, and low-cost sensors; and new programs and technologies to effectively prevent or reduce children’s exposure.

Children, environmental exposures, chemicals, environmental pollution, health risks, children’s health, environment, public health, quality of life