Oregon Environmental Council’s Eco-Healthy Childcare Program Goes National

PORTLAND, Ore.—March 25, 2008—More and more parents are choosing products and environments that reduce their children’s exposure to chemicals that cause harm to their health and development. These harmful chemicals include lead, mercury, and certain plastics. Since 2005, the Oregon Environmental Council has helped childcare providers understand how to protect children from these environmental hazards and endorsed high-performing childcares as 'eco-healthy.'

The Oregon Environmental Council’s Eco-Healthy Childcare program is now expanding outside of Oregon to four states and Canada. With pilot programs in California, Colorado, Michigan, Washington, and British Columbia, and broader expansion on the horizon, the Oregon Environmental Council is working to make the program national in scale by 2010.

"Research continues to link chemicals found commonly in consumer goods to childhood ailments and diseases such as cancer, asthma, and learning disabilities. These exposures can be particularly harmful to children unborn and up to six years old,” explains Andrea Durbin, Executive Director of the Oregon Environmental Council, “we must ensure that environments where children spend significant amounts of time learning and playing, such as childcares, schools, and homes, are as toxin-free as possible to help prevent long- and short-term health impacts."

The Eco-Healthy Childcare program’s primary tool is an easy-to-use, 25-point checklist, available in English and Spanish, empowering providers to self-audit their facilities for environmental health hazards. Childcare providers that comply with 20 of the 25 best practice points, including two required points pertaining to cigarette smoke and pesticide use, qualify as eco-healthy. Once a provider has committed to 20 of the 25 best-practice techniques established by Oregon Environmental Council, they are endorsed as being eco-healthy. The program then works with the provider to promote and highlight their childcare, creating awareness and consumer demand for these eco-healthy businesses.

"This program responds to a growing trend in the childcare sector and in parent demand by looking at a comprehensive view of children’s health,” says Durbin. “It asks that childcare facilities commit to practical and preventative health and safety practices beyond fastening seatbelts and washing hands."

In 2007, CCLC (Childrens’ Creative Learning Centers), Inc., a premier national provider dedicated to quality employer-sponsored early childhood care and education, had 21 of its childcare centers complete the Eco-Healthy Childcare process. CCLC facilities have been endorsed are located in California, Colorado, and Oregon.

"It is our number one priority to provide a healthy and propitious environment for the children in our care,” said Fran Durekas, Founder and Chief Development Officer, Children’s Creative Learning Centers, Inc. “Working with the Oregon Environmental Council offers us the unique opportunity to self-audit and ensure that our centers remain environmentally friendly for both the children and the communities we serve."

In 2006, the Eco-Healthy Childcare program received the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Children’s Environmental Health Excellence Award. Currently more than 200 facilities, caring for over 7,100 children, are endorsed as Eco-Healthy in Oregon. The Eco-Healthy Childcare program was designed by an expert advisory panel convened by the Oregon Environmental Council, including representatives from Head Start, the Oregon Department of Human Services, the Oregon Child Care Division, the Oregon Child Care Resource and Referral Network and the Oregon Association for the Education of Young Children, among others.

Note to editors: An electronic press kit is also available upon request.

About the Oregon Environmental Council

The Oregon Environmental Council safeguards what Oregonians love about Oregon – clean air and water, an unpolluted landscape and healthy food produced by local farmers. For 40 years, we’ve been a champion for solutions to protect the health of every Oregonian and the health of the place we call home. Our vision for Oregon includes solving global warming, protecting kids from toxins, cleaning up our rivers, building sustainable economies, and ensuring healthy food and local farms. Find out more at www.oeconline.org.