INCHES – 8th International Conference on Children’s Health and the Environment

From 14 – 16 September, HEAL member International Network on Children’s Health, Environment and Safety (INCHES) organised its eighth conference on children’s health and the environment. HEAL member Women in Europe for a Common Future (WECF) shared work on reducing children’s exposures to Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals at the event.



The conference, organised by HEAL’s member focused on the relations between children’s health and the environment. Participants from more than 30 countries worldwide presented more than 140 posters and presentations. INCHES organised the conference with a concrete set of objectives in mind to:

 provide an international forum for the latest research findings in children’s environmental health;

 define the relationship between environmental contaminants and children’s health;

 strengthen the importance of prenatal exposure to environmental factors on pregnancy outcome and children’s health;

 identify opportunities to minimize childhood prenatal and postnatal exposure to environmental contaminants;

 provide insight in the activities in the field of science and policy interface;

 build a platform of knowledge at an international level;

 develop a greater awareness among health professionals about children’s health and the environment, and;

 initiate future directions in research in the field of children’s environmental health.


WECF (a HEAL member) represented by Johanna Hausman, presented a civil society perspective on EDCs and children’s exposure. WECF called for fruitful cooperation between scientists and NGOs for better chemical regulations and more protection of children and pregnant women from hazardous chemicals. The presentation is available here.

Focusing on EDCs, WECF called on the INCHES conference to publish a statement for a strong EDC regulation in the EU and worldwide.

The conference had quite some media attention. The problem of high levels of mercury in Mediterranean fish and their consumption by pregnant women was highlighted. See abstracts of all presented papers here.

INCHES will produce a Video Declaration after the conference on the most important issues in the scientific and policy field of children’s environmental health. Keep an eye out at www.inchesnetwork.net.

Last updated on 27 September 2016