At a meeting held in 1997, the environment ministers of the G8 countries adopted the Miami Declaration aimed at protecting the health of children from environmental pollution. Initiatives have subsequently been launched in each country.
The Advisory Commission for Children's Environmental Health started conducting discussions on the environmental health of children in December 2005 and subsequently issued recommendations for measures that Japan should take moving forward.
Reference: Report of the Advisory Commission for Children's Environmental Health (August 2006)
One of the recommendations in the report was to implement an epidemiological survey on the relationship between children's environment and health aimed at identifying the effects of environmental factors (ingestion of chemical substances, living environment, etc.) on children's growth and development.
In response to this report, discussions on the launch of a new epidemiological study were conducted starting in October 2007 by the newly established Advisory Committee of the Epidemiological Research for Children's Environmental Health, leading to the launch of the Japan Environment and Children's Study (JECS) in FY2010.
| From 2003 |
|---|
- International Symposia on Children's Environmental Health
Collection of information on children's environmental health
- Launch of research on children's environmental health
|
| 2006 |
|---|
- Recommendations of the Advisory Commission for Children's Environmental Health
Clarification of issues surrounding the environmental health of children and recommendation of policies (promotion of research)
↓
- Priority research project on children's environmental health launched
Research carried out based on the recommendations of the Advisory Commission
- Third Basic Environment Plan
Committing to reduce the environmental risks of chemicals (target year: 2025)
|
| 2007 |
|---|
- Strategy for Becoming a Leading Environmental Nation in the 21st Century
Need for enhanced collection and monitoring of safety information, including the vulnerabilities of children
|
| December 2005 to June 2006 |
|---|
- Advisory Commission for Children's Environmental Health
Discussions held on the status and issues of the environmental health of children, leading to recommendations on the measures that Japan should take moving forward
|
Recommendation
Implementation of an epidemiological survey on the relationship between children's environment and health
* Launched in FY2007 as a top priority project
| October 2007 to March 2008 |
|---|
- Advisory Committee of the Epidemiological Research for Children's Environmental Health
Monitoring of epidemiological research in Japan and overseas, and discussions on promoting cooperation between ongoing epidemiological studies and launching new epidemiological research in Japan
|
| April 2008-March 2010 |
|---|
- Working Group of the Epidemiological Research for Children's Environmental Health
|
| From April 2008 |
|---|
- Launch of pilot studies to confirm the feasibility of the full-scale study (items) prior to implementation
|
| August 2008 to March 2010 |
|---|
- Working Group
Detailed examination of the proposed epidemiological study
|
| March 2010 |
|---|
- Japan Environment and Children's Study (JECS) Concept Plan approved
|
| From April 2010 |
|---|
- Designation of JECS Regional Centers and establishment of the JECS Project Evaluation Committee
|
| From January 2011 |
|---|
- Recruitment and registration of participants started
|
