To the Trump Administration, Children’s Health Is an Acceptable Sacrifice

A federal science panel that has advised the EPA on protecting children from environmental health hazards for nearly 30 years has stopped functioning. The Children's Health Protection Advisory Committee (CHPAC), made up of independent doctors, academics, and government officials, has not met since August 2025. Several members' terms ended this year, and while the EPA sought nominations for new members with a goal of filling seats by March 1, 2026, the positions remain empty. The EPA also has not given the committee any new assignment to review, despite a White House strategy report promising to involve it in children's health policy.

This matters because CHPAC's advice has shaped real protections in the past, including guidelines on where schools can be built to avoid environmental hazards. Last year the committee also finished a report on how exposure to plastic pollution can raise children's risk of developmental problems, birth defects, and cancer, but the EPA has not responded or taken action on it. Separately, the EPA last year loosened the soil lead limits that trigger cleanup, meaning kids could be exposed to more lead before the government steps in.

CHPAC is one of hundreds of federal science advisory committees that have been shut down, left unstaffed, or disrupted since the start of the current administration. Children's health groups and former CHPAC members have sent a letter to EPA and Health and Human Services leaders asking for a timeline to refill the committee and a response to its plastics report. For homeowners, the lead standard change is the most direct item worth knowing about if you are dealing with lead in soil around your property.