Health Center Eyes Environmental Risks
$500K grant opens facility focusing on preventing toxic disease in kids

By Danny Schrafel
dschrafel@longislandernews.com

Huntington Breast Cancer Action Coalition president Karen Joy Miller displays the “Look Before You L.E.A.P” package, which contains tips for kids to avoid exposure to environmental toxins. That program and an environmental health center in Greenlawn are being funded through a $500,000 grant secured by State Senator Carl Marcellino.

Supporters of a new health center in town hope it will provide just the preventative shot of adrenaline needed to make kids healthier.

Mount Sinai School of Medicine’s Center for Excellence in Children’s Environmental Health now has a second center to its credit in Huntington. The center, which hosted a remote opening at Rainbow Chimes in Huntington, was established at the North Shore Medical Group at 241 E. Main Street and funded by a $500,000 grant secured by State Senator Carl Marcellino (R – Syosset).

“The whole issue is to provide education to people about the environmental risks and factors that might impact children’s health all around us and treat children who have diseases of a toxic origin,” Marcellino said. “The whole idea is to talk about this stuff, put it all together in one place, spread the good word and save some lives.”

The center will provide consultations, referrals and medical care for children with diseases of suspected toxic environmental origin and children exposed to toxins, said Dr. Philip Landrigan, who chairs the department, and educate the community through outreach.

“It will serve as a source of second opinion,” he said. Landrigan said doctors at Mt. Sinai are investigating toxin and endocrine disruptor links to asthma, learning disabilities and conditions on the autism spectrum by tracking children in 105 counties from conception to age 21.

Treating toxic disease in children costs about $55 billion per year nationally, of which $6 billion is accrued in New York.

“If we can prevent even a small percentage [of toxic disease], we can save all the money that Governor Paterson’s looking for [in his budget cuts],” Landrigan said.

Karen Joy Miller, founder and president of Huntington Breast Cancer Action Coalition, said centers like this would help families become informed about how to provide a safer home environment for children and their families.

“Families can go into a children’s environmental health center, and the pediatrician will provide a check-up and actively engage the parents on lifestyle,” Miller said. “It will stimulate parents into thinking about what they’re bringing into their homes.”

The grant money from Marcellino will also allow the Coalition to spread their “Look Before You L.E.A.P.” program designed to help kids steer clear of lead, endocrine disruptors, air pollution and pesticides. The L.E.A.P. packet contains safe, sustainable and nontoxic products. Landrigan is the program’s senior medical adviser. The program is gaining steam, as the New York State Department of Health and the National Learning and Developmental Disabilities Institute have expressed interest.

“They love it because it’s focused, very concrete,” Landrigan said. “It gives parents specific direction for things they can do. It takes something that’s very scary and feels like it’s beyond to people’s control and reduces to bitesized pieces.”

Rainbow Chimes students created a song for the day to tell onlookers how they’re keeping safe and sanitary through hand washing, said Allan Kasof, delegate director of the school.

“This is an initiative that is going to directly affect the children as they grow up,” he said. “These kids are going to carry into Kindergarten the experiences they’ve learned here.”