PRESS RELEASE
September 30, 2026
Contact:
Charissee Ridgeway at EPN, charissee.ridgeway@environmentalprotectionnetwork.org, + 1 859-771-5568
Ashley Siefert Nunes at UCS, asiefert@ucs.org, +1 952-239-0199
Former EPA Children’s Health Advisers Call Out Trump Administration’s Unfulfilled Promise to Keep Kids Safe
Ahead of Children’s Health Month, experts warn EPA is weakening safeguards against toxic pollution while leaving children’s health advisory committee spots vacant
WASHINGTON — Ahead of Children’s Health Month this October, former members of the Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee (CHPAC) are calling out the Trump administration for failing to fulfill its own commitment to engage experts in protecting children’s health.
More than 70 signatories, including more than two dozen former CHPAC members and subject-matter experts, joined by the American Academy of Pediatrics, Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments and others, sent a letter today urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to appoint and convene a scientifically credible, varied and balanced committee. In its own children’s health strategy document, the administration committed to using CHPAC as part of its effort to address environmental threats to children’s health, including efforts to address children’s exposure to chemicals, air pollution, contaminated water, and microplastics associated with chronic disease and cancer risks. Yet as MAHA leaders gather in Washington this week, EPA has left the committee partially unseated, failing to meet its promise and depriving the agency of independent, science-based guidance on protecting children from pollution and toxic chemicals when families need it most.
For nearly three decades under both Republican and Democratic administrations, CHPAC has served as an expert-led, policy-oriented network of volunteers that provides EPA with evidence-based recommendations on children’s environmental health. Its members have included independent researchers, academic experts, health care providers, scientists, and public servants in state and Tribal governments.
EPA solicited nominations in August 2025, and said it expected to fill the vacancies by March 1, 2026. However, it is seven months later and those spots remain empty, leaving the committee not fully seated and thus unable to meet. This marks a break even from the first Trump administration, which maintained a functioning CHPAC and convened it repeatedly.
“EPA is making decisions right now about pollution and toxic chemicals that can shape a child’s health for a lifetime,” said Jeanne Briskin, former Director of EPA’s Office of Children’s Health Protection. “For nearly three decades, CHPAC has given EPA concrete recommendations on protecting children from lead, pesticides, PFAS, air pollution and other hazards. The administration cannot credibly promise to deliver on its children’s health strategy while leaving this expert committee vacant.”
The letter calls on EPA to take three steps by November 1, 2026:
- Set a Clear Timeline: Announce when EPA will appoint and convene a scientifically credible, varied and balanced CHPAC.
- Respond to Past Plastics Recommendations: Provide a written response to CHPAC’s November 2025 recommendations on plastics and children’s health.
- Meet with Health Experts: Convene EPA leadership and health experts to discuss integrating CHPAC’s proactive goals with the administration’s children’s health priorities.
These vacancies are especially noticeable given EPA has also repealed requirements limiting mercury and particulate pollution from coal-fired power plants and proposed eliminating federal drinking-water standards for several PFAS, which could leave children increasingly exposed to pollutants linked to neurological, respiratory, developmental, immune-system, and other serious health harms in children.
The Environmental Protection Network (EPN) and the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) helped organize the experts behind today’s letter. Both organizations have worked to defend the role of independent scientific advice in EPA decision-making. After the first Trump administration dismissed members of the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee and disbanded its particulate-pollution panel, UCS brought the experts together to convene independently and delivered their consensus recommendations directly to the EPA.
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ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION NETWORK
The Environmental Protection Network is a nonpartisan organization comprising more than 800 former EPA scientists, toxicologists, chemists, biologists, engineers, and policy analysts—many of whom spent decades as career experts inside the agency. They assessed cancer and developmental risks, studied links between pollution, fertility, and chronic disease, investigated contaminated communities, and brought enforcement actions to hold corporate polluters accountable. EPN was founded in 2017 to serve as an independent voice promoting science-based policies that protect families’ health.
ABOUT THE UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS
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