Child Health Experts With Diversity Roles Will Be Fired or Reassigned

The Environmental Protection Agency has informed employees who are experts in children’s health that they will be fired or reassigned because their job descriptions include work on environmental justice or diversity, equity and inclusion, an agency spokeswoman has confirmed.The E.P.A.’s 10 regional children’s health coordinators work closely with schools and other institutions to prevent and address environmental hazard exposures among young people.They were among 455 agency workers who were informed this week that their jobs would be either eliminated or that they would be reassigned through a so-called reduction-in-force process.“This is really an unprecedented attack on the health of our children,” said Jeanne Briskin, a retired E.P.A.

employee who worked at the agency for nearly 40 years and led its Office of Children’s Health Protection.She said the children’s health coordinators based in each of E.P.A.’s 10 regional offices had deep expertise on issues ranging from the way wildfire smoke affects young people to things like lead abatement and pesticide use at schools.They are biologists, environmental engineers and public health experts who develop resources for educators, prenatal care providers and others who look after children.

They also help E.P.A.regulators better understand how air pollution, chemicals and other toxic substances affect young bodies.“Republican and Democratic administrations have until this point rallied and supported the protection of children’s environmental health,” Ms.

Briskin said.“I think it is a travesty to envision the loss of children’s health coordinators, among others, at E.P.A.

that protect public health and help prevent children from getting exposed to toxic substances.”Children can be especially vulnerable to pollutants and chemicals because their bodies are still developing.In addition, some of their behaviors, like crawling or putting things in their mouths, potentially expose them to chemi...