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04/09/99 14:09 FAX 1 734 522 5196
KINKOS LIVONIA
002/004
ATTN: Noa Meyer, Speechwriter
Office of the First Lady
FROM: Alex Kuzma, Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund
DATE: April 9, 1999
FAX: (202) 456-2581
Dear Noa:
The following are some elements that you might want to consider in drafting the First
Lady's speech. I tried to address some of the specific issues that I remember Melanne
mentioned she might want to incorporate into the First Lady's address. Feel free to use
anything you think might be appropriate. I am in Michigan until Monday, but I'll be
happy to address any concerns you might have. You can leave a message for me at
(973)376-5140. Wishing you a good weekend and looking forward to being in touch
next week. Alex
CORPORATE INVOLVEMENT:
CCRF has worked creatively with major US corporations such as Monsanto and John
Deere to develop a strong community health program in targeted provinces. These are
progressive companies that have tried, to instill a culture of caring and social
responsibility in the emerging democracies of Eastem Europe, and to foster principles of
good corporate citizenship.
CCRF has also tapped the resources of its home base by working with New Jersey-based
pharmaceutical companies such as Merck, Bristol-Myers and Roche Laboratories to
deliver high-quality antibiotics and cancer medications for Ukrainian pediatric centers.
Their donations have helpd to give Ukrainian children a fighting chance against life-
threatening illnesses.
This evening, I was pleased to meet the new President of Roche Laboratories, Myron
Holubiak (MY-ron ho-LOO-bee-ack) whose company is becoming increasingly involved
in this effort, and I was pleased to learn that Searle Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of
Monsanto based in the Chicago area has also donated large volumes of excellent
antibiotics to CCRF's previous airlifts.
[if appropriate]
I would also like to acknowledge several individuals in the room this evening who have
been especially generous to this relief mission: Mr. and Mrs. Bill Katz of BBDO
Enterprises, the Goldenbarr Company, the Fedash family, Dr. Mona Mikalsen, Mayor
Tom Denny, and Lou and Judi Friedman. In addition to their own generosity, many of
these individuals have helped CCRF secure major grants and millions of dollars' worth of
medical technology and in-kind donations of medical supplies from corporate donors.
04/09/99 14:09 FAX 1 734 522 5196
KINKOS LIVONIA
0
003/004
HOME RULE and LOCAL INGENUITY
In the finest tradition of US foreign aid, CCRF has established a strong local office in
Kyiv which is now administered entirely by young Ukrainian citizens. These are talented
graduates of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy who are in the best position to integrate
American know-how with the innate creative genius of the Ukrainian people. CCRF's
Kyiv office has shown a wonderful ability to develop indigenous solutions to local
problems. Not content to rely on the financial support of its American patrons, the staff
has developed a firm grasp of the concept of grassroots empowerment.
I understand that just last week, CCRF's Kyiv staff secured a donation of over $100,000
worth of children's vitamins from Bristol-Myers Squibb. The Kyiv office also negotiated
a grant from a local juice-packing company to organize a youth festival and Bikeathon to
raise funds for a children's cancer center.
CCRF's partner hospitals are also mobilizing local entrepreneurs, artists, and community
activists to upgrade the quality of care for their pediatric patients. In the town of Lootsk,
in northwestern Ukraine, doctors rolled up their sleeves and volunteered their time along
with carpenters and artisans to create a new sanitorium for children with cerebral palsy.
This doctors' and workers' brigade also renovated a newborn intensive care unit and
CCRF has rewarded their initiative by delivering new respirators and pulse oximeters to
bring this unit up to Western standards.
By galvanizing local activists and professionals to design their own campaigns, CCRF
has assured that its programs will be sustainable in the long run and that they can be
replicated by other Ukrainian institutions.
US Community Involvement:
Much of CCRF's strength lies in its grassroots chapters and support groups based in
communities across the United States. From Hartford to San Diego, from major urban
centers like Cleveland, Detroit and Rochester, to quiet resort towns like Kerhonkson,
New York; from bustling college campuses like Yale and Rutgers to retirement
communities like Sun City, Arizona and North Port, Florida, CCRF has shown an
amazing ability to capture the imagination of caring Americans across ethnic, religious
and generational lines.
CCRF understands that we cannot hope to strengthen and galvanize communities in far-
away Eastern Europe unless we have first reached out beyond the Washington Beltway
and proven our ability to mobilize our friends and neighbors here in the United States.
04/09/99 14:09 FAX 1 734 522 5196
KINKOS LIVONIA
5
004/004
By working in coalition with churches, schools and businesses, environmental groups and
women's organizations, CCRF has greatly increased its ability to leverage resources, to
reduce its costs and to maximize the value of its donors' contributions.
Many members of Congress and humanitarian experts at the State Department are
amazed by how much CCRF has accomplished with such a lean staff and such a modest
budget. Twenty airlifts Eight partner hospitals an MRI system, a premier
pediatric leukemia center and blood testing laboratory. Many organizations have not
accomplished a fraction as much as CCRF has accomplished with a budget and staff five
to ten times its size. The secret to your success has been the devotion and the energy of
your volunteers who have not spared themselves in this effort.
Having traveled extensively in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, I know how important
your efforts are to the children stricken with these illnesses How important they are to
their parents who must worry constantly about their future.
We know that these children are very vulnerable to common infections, to thyroid cancer,
and other illnesses. We know how the women of Ukraine are gravely at risk for AIDS,
for birth complications and anemia, for hormonal and immune disorders. The work of
CCRF and organizations like it seems unfathomable and thankless at times.
But when you visit these maternity centers and these neonatal intensive care units, when
you look closely at the babies who are being born into this world, who are waging a
desperate struggle for survival, you know that everything you're doing is worth the effort.
When you meet the parents of the infants who survived this ordeal thanks to an infant
warmer, or a respirator or and transport incubator delivered by an American relief group,
your hearts and the heart of every American can justifiably swell with pride.
Today, we are on the threshold of the new Millennium. We understand more than ever
that what happens in a remote village in Kosovo or in Vinnytsia or Chornobyl can have a
profound impact on the lives of all our children. We can no longer turn a blind eye or
shut down our conscience. But we must steel our courage and we can open our hearts,
and in our own quiet way, we can work small miracles that can slowly, inevitably change
the world.
08:17
200 401 0201
7
5m
A
4/19
Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund
January 18, 1999
Ms. Melanne Verveer
Chief of Staff
Patti- we fuld
HONORARY BOARD
U.S. Representative Nancy Johnson
Office of the First Lady
U.S. Senator Frank R Lautenberg
Room 100, Old Executive Office Building
Mem wid
U.S. Senator Joseph I. Lieberman
Molly Schwenn, M.D.
Washington, DC 20030
do THIS before
Ambassador Yurl Shcherbak
FAX: (202)456-6244
U.S. Representative Louise Slaughter
Dear Melanne:
but mey
PRESIDENT
Zenon Matkiwsky, D.O.
It was a pleasure to visit with you and Katie last Wednesday. To
didn't
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
follow up on our discussion, we would like to set a date for the
have
Nadla Matkiwsky
special reception we are planning at the Ukrainian Institute of
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
America (5th Avenue and 79th Street, New York City). In keeping
enough
Orest Dubno, Chairman
with our earlier discussions, we would like to invite the First Lady to
Stephen Baker, M.D.
Silvia Bilobron, D.M.D.
address this gathering of community leaders, medical experts and
five
Thomas N. Denny
donors who have lent their support to our hospital partnership
when ar
Paul Dzul, M.D.
Orest Fedash
program in Ukraine. On this occasion, we would like to present the
James C. Hagen, Ph.D., M.P.H., N.H.A. First Lady with a Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her
gove
Mark Harwanko
Andrew P. Kyzyk
long-standing commitment to the cause of women's health and her
Thema
Gregory Rokosz, D.O. F.A.C.E.P., I.D.
ongoing efforts to improve children's health in Eastern Europe and
Larissa Barabash Temple
around the world.
Joseph A. Vena
date,
Leo Wolansky. M.D.
I am writing to ask for your assistance in setting a date that would
We need
accomodate the First Lady's schedule. We would need roughly eight
weeks' lead time to prepare this function. If possible, we had hoped
to work
to schedule the reception for some time in late March or late April.
The Board of the Ukrainian Institute and its President, Mr. Walter
Them
Nazarewycz have assured us that they would make any arrangements
when
that might be necessary.
me
Please call me or Nadia Matkiwsky at your earliest convenience so
know
that we might finalize our plans for this very special event. You may
reach us by fax at (973)376-4988 with any date(s) that might be
we in
available. We deeply appreciate your consideration of this request.
going 2
Sincerely,
be in
NY.
Alex Kuzma
Director of Development
Children of Chornobyl Rellef Fund
International Children of Chornobyl Foundation
272 Old Short Hills Road Short Hills, New Jersey 07078
Khreshchatyk St. 25/28 Kyiv, Ukraine 252001
Tel: 973.376.5140 Fax: 973.376.4988 e-mail: [email protected]
Tel/Fax: 38.044.228.1870 e-mail: [email protected]
website: http://www.tryzub.com/CCRF
Winner of the 1995 New Jersey Governor's International Volunteer Award
CCRF is a non-proft humanitarian organization. All gifts are tax-deductible.
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
May 1, 1996
REMARKS BY FIRST LADY HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON
REMARKS AT THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE CHORNOBYL TRAGEDY
THE WHITE HOUSE
Thank you and please be seated. And please know how welcome
you are here at the White House for this special commemoration of
the 10th anniversary of the Chornobyl nuclear tragedy. I want to
thank all of you for taking part. But there are a few people I
would like to acknowledge who are here in the audience: Senator
Claiborne Pell, Brian Atwood, Ambassador Jim Collins, John Holem,
Richard Morningstar, others who have worked on behalf of the
United States government to assist those who have dealt on the
front lines with the tragedy. I also want to extend a special
welcome to the Ambassadors who were just introduced to all of
you. Ambassadors of Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia. They have
joined us today to recognize the many individuals and
organizations who have helped with relief efforts in the
aftermath of Chornobyl -- and they are here also to join with us
in rededicating ourselves to the healing and recovery that must
continue into the future.
Ambassador Shcherbak, we are particularly indebted to you.
You were one of the first medical doctors to respond to the
tragedy at Chornobyl. And in the years since, few have done as
much as you, Mr. Ambassador, to educate people around the world
about the medical and scientific realities of the Chornobyl
disaster, and what they portend for humanity's future. I would
like to ask Ambassador Shcherbak to stand, so that we may thank
him.
Before the Vice President and I came into this room, we were
in the Blue Room with the Ambassadors and the wives who are here,
and the other dignitaries that I just acknowledged, and
Ambassador Shcherbak reminded the Vice President and me that it
was on May 1, ten years ago, that children were encouraged and
even required to participate in May Day activities, despite the
dangers of fallout and continuing damages from Chornobyl. And
those who are in this room, who have worked on behalf of all of
the people affected by Chornobyl, know what a terrible aftermath
that has caused in the lives of so many children.
That is why it is a great privilege for me to serve as
1
honorary chair of Chornobyl Challenge '96, which has convened
experts, advocates and lay people from across the spectrum to
devise new strategies for coping with the aftermath of Chornobyl.
Already there have been symposia of scientists, journalists,
academics, church leaders, business people and others who are
working on these matters. This evening, at St. John's Church,
there will be a prayer service for the victims of Chornobyl. Each
of these gatherings gives us an opportunity to reflect on what we
all need to do as citizens of the world to help those still
coping with this unfolding tragedy.
Today's event is one both of mourning, but also of hope.
Mourning because the people of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia have
suffered so much in the ten years since the explosion and fire at
Chornobyl's Unit 4 Reactor. Today, let us pray for those who lost
their lives, and those who live each day with uncertainty about
their own health and well-being.
But we are also here for a celebration of hope. As we so
often see when tragedies occur, here and around the world,
Americans and others respond with concern and compassion. They,
and you, the entire human family, have answered the worst of man-
made catastrophes with the best of human nature.
Even before the gravity of Chornobyl was fully revealed,
offers of humanitarian assistance began pouring in. And they have
continued year after year.
The private voluntary organizations, including those
represented in this room, have supplied well over 1,000 tons of
medicine and medical equipment and supplies to people in affected
areas. Those donations alone are worth more than $100 million.
Private voluntary organizations have also established
special hospitals for those people -- many of are children --
afflicted with thyroid cancers, leukemia, and other disorders
stemming from exposure to radioactive elements. As part of the
recovery effort, American doctors have gone to the former Soviet
Union and patients have come to the United State for care.
Other organizations here today have focused on the
disaster's environmental consequences. Some are helping address
the overwhelming public health challenges faced in the region.
And still others are helping to study and evaluate the long-term
effects of the disaster. Through these and other activities the
private volunteer community continues to focus the world's
attention on the consequences and lessons of Chornobyl.
But these organizations cannot -- and should not -- do this
work alone. I am pleased that the generosity of private
volunteers has augmented humanitarian relief efforts by the
United States government, particularly the delivery of medicines
2
and treatment.
Today, these efforts convey a message of compassion and
healing that tells the victims of Chornobyl that the world will
not forget them or the tragedy they have endured.
Two years ago, and again last year, I was in the former
Soviet Union and I had the opportunity to visit hospitals in
Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. I met with patients, many of them
children, suffering from Chornobyl's aftermath. I talked with
doctors and nurses who told me they were seeing increases in
respiratory illness, heart disease, birth defects, male
infertility and other reproductive problems. They told me about
abnormally high rates of thyroid cancer and thyroid diseases in
children -- diseases that before the catastrophe rarely appeared
in people so young.
In Kiev, I talked to pregnant women who worried about what
Chornobyl would mean for their children -- and their children's
children.
And at each hospital I visited, I saw extraordinary work
being done by health care professionals under extremely trying
circumstances. Doctors and nurses face chronic shortages of
medicine and supplies -- everything from syringes and simple
antibiotics to chemotherapy medications and MRI machines.
Thanks to the contributions of our government and many
organizations -- and to the partnerships that our hospitals have
established with hospitals in these three countries -- lives are
literally being saved every day.
Just in the brief time I was in Minsk, I saw American
doctors from Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh sharing new
treatment techniques with their counterparts in Belarus.
I watched soldiers deliver large boxes of blankets,
syringes, bandages, and medicine provided through Operation
Provide Hope, a program run by the United States military that
sends surplus medical supplies and equipment to the former Soviet
Union. I was able to pass out crayons and coloring books donated
by American companies, and even Boston Celtics caps that the team
had sent.
Of course, this was just a fraction of the American relief
work going on. And a fraction of the work that remains to be done
by all of us.
As we celebrate, today, the many good and important deeds
that were born of this tragedy, let's not forget that
humanitarian assistance is not a short-term investment. The
people and nations of Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia are struggling
3
to build the infrastructure and institutions needed to sustain
democracy and repair the human spirit after harsh decades of
totalitarianism. It is our duty, it is our moral responsibility,
as believers in freedom and democracy -- to help them.
Chornobyl is rare in the litany of global tragedies. Unlike
bombings, wars, earthquakes, other natural and man-made
disasters, we may never fully know the extent of damage done by
the explosion and fire at Chornobyl ten years ago.
Some of the more obvious after-effects are well-documented.
But what about the ultimate impact on the environment? On the
food chain? On human genetics? And what about our own capacity to
recognize that a tragedy like Chornobyl affects not just the
people of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, but people in every nation
of the world?
The history of the people in the region of Chornobyl is a
history of endurance. The nuclear disaster was a horrible chapter
in that history. But from that crucible has emerged an
opportunity to create something far better in its place. An
opportunity to add another chapter that speaks to the resilience
of the people of Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia, and to the caring
and compassion of our entire global family.
We are very grateful for all of you in this room, and for
the many, many others you represent. Who through your work, your
prayers, and your continued commitment to this important effort
have already made a difference, and will continue to do so.
There is certainly, much more that we need to be doing, and
Chornobyl Challenge '96 I hope will identify those efforts. But
we have three people here today, who have been deeply involved in
assessing and evaluating, understanding, and working to
ameliorate the consequences of Chornobyl. First we will hear
from our Vice President, he will talk to us about the efforts and
commitment of the Administration and the United States
government. Next, we will here from Alex Kuzma, who as the
coordinator of Chornobyl Challenge '96 will talk to us about the
commitment of the American relief community. And finally we will
hear from Vova Malofienko, a courageous 12 year old who will tell
of his personal story about the treatment he has been receiving
in this country for Chornobyl related illnesses.
And now, I have the honor of introducing a man whose
attention to Chornobyl and its aftermath has never wavered, who
in many respects tried to warn all of us about some of the issues
we are now dealing with, because of his commitment to the
environment and to the future that we all share together in this
world -- the Vice President of the United States.
###
4
04/05/99 MON 15:31 FAX 1 973 376 4988
CHILDREN OF CHORNOBYL
Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund
A Special Evening
Honoring
The First Lady of the United States
HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON
Monday, April 19, 1999
Program
Introduction:
Alexander B. Kuzma, Director of Development
Welcoming Remarks:
Fred Caruso, Master of Ceremonies
Motion Picture Film Producer
Prolisok Choir:
Andrij Stasiw, Musical Director
The Enchanted Vlolin
Words: Rybchynsky
Music: Poklad
Medley of Ukralnian Songs
Arrangement: Stasiw
My Ukraine
Words & Music: Petrenenko
Arrangement: Stasiw
Reflections:
U.S. Senator Frank R Lautenberg
Special Guest:
Alec Baldwin
Actor. Producer, Activist
Special Remarks:
Melanne Verveer, Chlef of Staff
Office of the First Lady
04/05/99 MON 15:31 FAX 1 973 376 4988
CHILDREN OF CHORNOBYL
Program
Award Presentation:
Nadia Matklwsky, Executive Director
Honored Guest:
First Lady of the United States Hillary Rodham Clinton
Closing Remarks:
Dr. Zenon Matkiwsky, President
Benediction:
His Grace Archbishop Antony
Ukrainian Orthodox Church - U.S.A.
Prolisok Choir:
Andrij Stasiw, Musical Director
The Children's Prayer
Words and Music: Barabash
"Prolisok", the girls choir of the Ukrainian American Youth Association
(UAYA), whose members range in ages from 10 to 19 years have been
in existence in New York City since 1994. To date, "Prolisok" has delighted
audiences at numerous cultural festivals and programs in New York City
and the Metropolitan Area, with a repertoire consisting of traditional and
modern Ukrainian songs. The UAYA, celebrating its fiftieth year of existence,
Is an educational organization which teaches American children of Ukrainian
descent their heritage through Ukrainian culture, history and literature.
The musical director of the choir is maestro Andrlj Stasiw. Maestro Stasiw is
also presently director and conductor of the Holy Cross Choir in Astoria, NY.
He is a well-known planist, conductor and composer and has traveled nationally
and internationally, performing with several groups and as a solo performer.
Performers:
Andrea Babsky
Alexandra Harhaj
Natalie Rojowsky
Catherine Babsky
Christine Harhaj
Danielle Soroka
Christine Bartoslewicz
Katherine Koslv
Michelle Soroka
Llsa Bartoslewicz
Adrlana Paska
Natalla Stupak
Larysa Blahy
Anastasia Pazana
Romana Zajac
Ulana Blahy
Andrea Popovech
Tanya Zajac
Olesla Demczur
Mary Ann Popovech
Nadia Dlaboha
Katherine Rojowsky
04/05/99
17:07 FAX 203 407 0261
CCRF KUZMA CT
5.
001
Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund
HONORARY BOARD
U.S. Representative Nancy Johnson
U.S. Senator Frank R Lautenberg
U.S. Senator Joseph 1. Lieberman
Molly Schwenn. M.D.
April 5, 1999
Ambassador Yuri Shcherbak
U.S. Representative Loulse Slaughter
Attention: Noa Meyer
PRESIDENT
Office of the First Lady
Zenon Matkiwsky. D.O.
Speechwriter's Office
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
FAX: (202)456-2581
Nadla Markiwsky
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Orest Dubno, Chairman
Dear Noa:
Stephen Baker. M.D.
Sllvia Bilobron, D.M.D.
Thomas N. Denny
The following are some background materials on our relief mission.
Paul Dzul. M.D.
Orest Fedash
Tomorrow, I hope to send you some additional material on the
James
C.
Hagen,
Ph.D., M.P.H., N.H.A. aftermath of the Chornobyl accident and the current public health
Mark Harwanko
Andrew P. Kyzyk
situation in Ukraine which you may want to consider in drafting the
Gregory Rokosz D.O. F.A.C.E.P., J.D.
First Lady's speech for April 19th.
Larissa Barabash Temple
Joseph A. Vena
Leo Wolansky. M.D.
Feel free to call me if you have any questions.
Looking forward to working with you in preparation for the April
19th reception.
any Sincerely,
Alex Kuzma
Director of Development
Children of Chomobyl Rellef Fund
International Children of Chornobyl Foundation
272 Old Short Hills Road Short Hills, New Jersey 07078
Khreshchatyk St. 25/28 Kyiv, Ukraine 252001
Tel: 973.376.5140 Fax: 973.376.4988 e-mail: [email protected]
Tel/Fax: 38.044.228,1870 e-mail: [email protected]
website: http://www.tryzub.com/CCRF
Winner of the 1995 New Jersey Governors International Volunteer Award
CRF Is a non-proftt humanizarian organization. All gifts are tax-deductible.
04/05/99 17:07 FAX 203 407 0261
CCRF KUZMA CT
I
002
CHILDREN OF CHORNOBYL RELIEF FUND
TRACK RECORD
(Updated as of March, 1999)
Twenty Airlifts and Seven Sea Shipments; Delivery of 1,100 tons
of humanitarian aid valued at over $40 million US dollars;
Established state-of-the-art Blood Diagnostic Laboratory at
the Lviv Regional Specialized Pediatric Clinic in Ukraine (1990);
in 1997 the Laboratory was certified by an independent team
of international inspectors as the finest in Eastern Europe.
Installed the first US-built Magnetic Resonance Imaging System
in Ukraine (at the Kiev Emergency Hospital & Trauma Center)
Over 9,500 patients have undergone diagnostic testing in the MRI,
more than 800 malignant tumours found since 1994.
Provided cancer medication and post-operative drugs for
hundreds of children with leukemia and thyroid cancer.
Modernized six neonatal intensive care units with respirators,
transport incubators, pulse oximeters & other advanced technology.
(Kyiv, Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovske, Lutsk, Lviv and Vinnytsia)
Organized training conferences, internships and advanced seminars for
hundreds of Ukrainian doctors in the fields of pediatrics, oncology,
surgery, clinical biochemistry and neonatal intensive care.
Testified as expert witnesses in Congressional hearings and UN forums
on the aftermath of the Chornobyl disaster.
Founders becaine the first US citizens to receive Ukraine's Presidential
Medal of Honor in recognition of CCRF's humanitarian achievements
CCRF is also the winner of the 1995 New Jersey Governor's
Volunteer Award and several other coveted honors.
04/05/99
17:07 FAX 203 407 0261
CCRF KUZMA CT
003
Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund
For Immediate Release: April 5, 1999
First Lady Hillary Clinton to be honored
for contributions to Children's Health Programs
(New York City) On Monday, April 19th at 6 p.m. First Lady of the United States Hillary
Rodham Clinton will accept a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Children of
Chomobyl Relief Fund (CCRF) in recognition of her long-standing efforts to improve
children's health in Ukraine and around the world. The award will be presented at the
Ukrainian Institute of America, at the corner of Fifth Avenue and East 79th Street in
Manhattan, near the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Mrs. Clinton has been very supportive
of efforts to aid the children of Chornobyl. In 1996, she and Vice-President Gore hosted a
White House ceremony commemorating the 10th Anniversary of the Chornobyl nuclear
disaster. On three separate goodwill missions, Mrs. Clinton visited children's hospitals in
Ukraine to observe first-hand the health impact of the 1986 nuclear accident that released
massive amounts of radiation into the environment of Ukraine and neighboring countries.
She has also lent her support to US-based efforts to save the lives of Ukrainian children.
The New Jersey-based Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund has been cited by many
authorities including Ukraine's former Ambassador to the United States, Dr. Yuri
Shcherbak, the US State Department, and many members of Congress as one of the most
effective and cost-efficient medical missions serving Ukraine. With the aid of technology,
training and support services generated by US donors and activists, CCRF has achieved
dramatic successes in its partner hospitals in Kyiv (Kiev), Lviv, Dnipropetrovsk,
Vinnytsia, Lutsk, and other cities. The Fund has established model neonatal intensive care
units that have sharply reduced infant mortality in several medical centers. (MORE
)
04/05/99 17:07 FAX 203 407 0261
CCRF KUZMA CT
004
First Lady to be honored by Chornobyl children's charity
Press Release, April 5, 1999 -- page 2
The Fund has also established the most advanced blood-testing laboratory in all of
Eastern Europe, at the Lviv Regional Specialized Pediatric Clinic, to help combat
children's leukemia and non-Hodgkins lymphoma.
Together with the Ukrainian National Women's League of America, CCRF
installed the first Magnetic Resonance Imaging System at the Kyiv Emergency Hospital
and Trauma Center. Since 1994, the MRI has provided diagnostic tests for 9,500 patients,
in many cases enabling doctors to perform life-saving surgeries on malignant tumours and
traumatic brain injuries afflicting Chornobyl survivors, including children, evacuees, and
nuclear cleanup veterans.
CCRF has chosen to honor Mrs. Clinton for her personal commitment to children's
health and humanitarian efforts in Eastern Europe. Throughout her professional life, Mrs.
Clinton has devoted herself to improving the lives of mothers and children, both in the
United States and throughout the world. The First Lady has frequently spoken out about
the need for increased aid for hospitals and non-governmental organizations such as CCRF
that are implementing innovative, high-impact approaches to international aid and
development.
In its first ten years, CCRF has completed twenty major airlifts and seven sea
shipments to Ukraine, delivering over 1,200 tons of aid valued at $40 million dollars.
For more information on the April 19th reception, please contact the Children of
Chornobyl Relief Fund in New Jersey at (973)376-5140 or in Kyiv (Kiev) at (011-38-044-
228-1870, or consult CCRF's homepage at www.childrenofchornobyl.org or at
www.ccrf-iccf.org. Email messages may be sent 10 [email protected].
*CCRF uses the Ukrainian spelling of "Chornobyl" recommended by the US Library of Congress and the
National Geographic Society, as opposed to the former, Soviet spelling "Chernobyl".
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Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund
Background Materials:
Mission Statement: The Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund is a humanitarian
organization created to protect and save the lives of children who confront the human
legacy of one of the world's worst environmental disasters.
In 1995, with the aid of a major grant from the Monsanto Company, CCRF expanded its
mission to mount a broad-based effort to combat infant mortality and early childhood
diseases in several Ukrainian provinces.
Since 1990, CCRF has launched twenty large-scale airlifts and seven sea shipments.
We've delivered more than 1,200 tons of aid, valued at over $40 million dollars. Next to
the US government, there is no US organization that has delivered more medical aid, or
more medical technology to Ukraine. In April and May of 1999, we will be launching our
21 st and twenty-second airlifts.
Beyond humanitarian aid, CCRF has established long-term hospital partnerships with
pediatric hospitals and cancer treatment centers in eight cities: Kyiv (Pushcha Vodytsia),
Dnipropetrovsk, Chernihiv, Lutsk, L'viv, Luhansk, Poltava and Vinnytsia.
Among our most notable achievements, CCRF has established one of the most advanced
and best-equipped blood testing laboratories in the former Soviet Union, at the Lviv
Regional Specialized Pediatric Clinic (LRSPC). With technology and training provided by
CCRF, the Lviv Clinic has become one of the most effective treatment centers for children
with leukemia and Hodgkins Disease. The diagnostic center is staffed by doctors and
technicians who received extensive training (between eight weeks and 6 months) under
CCRF's auspices in the United States. These physicians have since returned to Lviv,
where they have sponsored national training conferences for hematologists, sharing skills
and techniques learned at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and the
Boston Children's Hospital, and the University of Pittsburgh, among others.
The doctors and technicians at the LRSPC have done a very fine job of utilizing equipment
and training provided by CCRF. Since 1995, they have been producing their own
monoclonal antibodies which are shared with diagnostic centers across Western Ukraine.
In 1998, the CCRF-sponsored biochemistry laboratory at the LRSPC was certified by a
prestigious European inspection team as the most accurate testing facility of its kind in
Eastern Europe.
1
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006
In one of the most exciting developments spawned by CCRF training programs and
technology, Dr. Artur Sirenko, a young researcher at the LRSPC has produced ground-
breaking results in his analysis of chromosomes linked to remission and regression rates
among children suffering from leukemia and other life-threatening blood disorders.
Working with a flow cytometer donated by the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center and
delivered by the Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund in 1992, and then with a new
cytometer from Becton-Dickenson, Dr. Sirenko has identified a key chromosome that has
been linked to pediatric leukemia patients' ability to achieve long-term recovery from their
illness. Dr. Sirenko's findings were well-received at several major conferences hosted by
the European Haematological Association. This research could have a major impact on
the treatment of leukemia around the world.
* * *
In addition to our successes in the area of leukemia treatment, CCRF has modernized six
neonatal intensive care centers - in Dnipropetrovsk, Chernihiv, Lutsk, L'viv and
Vinnytsia, and at the Institute of Pediatrics, OBGYN in Kyiv. All of these NICU units
have significantly strengthened the hospitals' ability to save the lives of newborns.
CCRF has created a fledgling infant cardiac surgery program at the Lviv Regional
Clinical Children's Hospital under the direction of U.S.-trained surgeon Dr. Roman
Kovalsky. The Cardiac Program has been equipped with essential diagnostic equipment, a
transport incubator, ventilators and other technology needed to save children born with
congenital heart defects. In the near future, CCRF hopes to upgrade this unit with a
heart-lung machine we've secured from our chapter in Cleveland, Ohio to enable the staff
to perform more complicated bypass and open-heart surgeries.
*
CCRF has also installed the first U.S.-built MRI system in Ukraine with the assistance
of the Ukrainian National Women's League of America. The $1.1 million dollar system is
staffed by local Kiev radiologists who also received training through CCRF. In its first
few years in operation, the MRI provided diagnostic tests for more than 9,500 patients,
and located malignant tumours in more than 800 cases. The MRI has also enabled
physicians at the Kiev Emergency Hospital and Trauma Center to obtain high-definition
tests on scores of traumatic injuries without which life-saving treatments would have been
impossible. Ongoing monitoring visits by CCRF staff and medical advisers have verified
that the MR staff is well-versed in all applications of the system.
continued
2
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Under its first USAID grant, awarded in 1994, CCRF received $350,000 for the
procurement of oncological medicines and a physicians' training conference in Kiev. 1
CCRF leveraged over $5.5 million dollars' worth of chemotherapeutic agents and post-
operative drugs. This included enough thyroxin and T-3, T-4 hormone supplements for
the more than 300 Ukrainian children who have undergone surgery for thyroid cancer.
CCRF also provided a full compliment of leukemic medicine for a leading cancer center in
Lviv - enough to bring more than 100 leukemic children into remission. Only two children
died in the ward during this period, and physicians were extremely pleased with the
recovery and remission rate. The Fund also obtained large amounts of antibiotics to
combat potentially life-threatening infections in post-operative settings.² CCRF also
leveraged more than $400,000 worth of Hepatitis-B vaccine (Recombivax HB) providing
for the vaccination of 510 patients who were vulnerable to hepatitis following
chemotherapy.
On numerous occasions, CCRF has succeeded in providing large volumes of cancer
medication that enabled Ukrainian doctors to place and keep children in remission.
Cancer centers in Kiev, Kharkiv, Lviv, Pushcha Vodytsia and elsewhere have reported
favorable results after receiving a variety of products from CCRF.
CCRF's success in saving the lives of newborns and children with cancer has been cited in
nationwide news broadcasts on Ukrainian television as well as in major publications in the
U.S. and Ukraine. On May 1st, 1996, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and Vice-
President Al Gore honored CCRF as one of the most effective groups involved in medical
relief in Ukraine during a special White House ceremony marking the 10th Anniversary of
the Chornobyl disaster. The only NGO representatives invited to speak on behalf of the
NGO community were CCRF staffer Alexander Kuzma and 11-year-old Vova
Malofienko, one of the leukemic children who was saved through CCRF's relief efforts.
Since 1992, several Congressional bodies and United Nations agencies have called on
representatives of CCRF to testify as expert witnesses on the aftermath of the Chornobyl
disaster and to assess the medical crisis in the former Soviet Union. These included the
Senate Subcommittee on the Environment and Public Works, the House Human Rights
Caucus, and the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe.
CCRF has also been invited to co-host major conferences on Chornobyl with the Harriman
Institute at Columbia University School for International Affairs and the Yale University
Center on Russian and East European Studies.
I
Chemotherapeutic agents and cancer medications are notoriously costly and difficult to obtain in the
form of in-kind donations. The cost of medication for one leukemic child in the United States can casily
run as high as $100,000 per year. CCRF medical advisers were concerned that the funding provided for
this purpose might not be adequate to make a significant impact on patients in the targeted region.
Despite these challenges, the program resulted in significant benefits for hundreds of cancer patients.
2 Children with cancer and Chornobyl survivors are particularly vulnerable to infections as their immune
systems are weakened by radiation exposure or chemotherapy, and this often poses an acute challenge
which CCRF and its partner hospitals fell compelled to address in developing effective protocols for the
Oncology Program.
3
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Honors:
CCRF's founders, Dr. Zenon and Mrs. Nadia Matkiwsky were the first U.S. citizens to
receive the Medal of Honor from Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma during in
recognition of their outstanding accomplishments on behalf of the Chornobyl victims. The
award was bestowed during the August 1996 Celebration of the 5th Anniversary of
Ukrainian Independence in Kiev. Mrs. Matkiwsky received a similar award from the
Ukrainian Parliament ("Verkhovna Rada") in 1991 when she was officially granted the
title "Honorary Mother of Chornobyl's Children". In 1995, CCRF was the recipient of the
New Jersey Governor's Volunteer Award in recognition of its achievements in the field of
international relief. In 1996, CCRF Executive Director Nadia Matkiwsky was invited by
President Kuchma to serve on the National Planning Committee for the official
commemoration of the Chornobyl 10th Anniversary at the Kiev State Opera Theatre.
CCRF played a leading role in the organization of the concert, which was nationally
televised and featured international celebrities from Ukraine, the United States and Great
Britain. In 1995, CCRF received the Governor's Volunteer Award from New Jersey
Governor Christine Todd Whitman. CCRF has also been honored in the "Local Heroes"
column in TIME Magazine (July 14, 1996) and has been nominated for the 1999 Conrad
Hilton Humanitarian Award.
4
First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton
Georgetown University, Eleanor Roosevelt Lectures
Washington, DC - December 4, 1998
I am delighted to be here at this wonderful university. I want to thank my friend and your
president, Father O'Donovan, for his introduction, for his leadership, for his many contributions.
Not only here to this university but to the much broader American community as well.
I am delighted to be here with others, from whom you will hear as the program goes on.
Dr. Glen Johnson from Val-Kill and Dr. Dorothy Brown and Dr. Sue Martin, Ambassador Betty
King and Dr. McGrab and Dr. Milnik and your own Dr. Jo Ann Moran Cruz and Tracy
Roosevelt.
This is a very important first lecture and a very significant series that was undertaken by
the Eleanor Roosevelt Center at Val-Kill at Hyde Park in New York. I am very honored to be
taking part in this extraordinary lecture series and I'm very pleased to be a part of something that
preserves the legacy of Eleanor Roosevelt. That gives new generations of all of us, men and
women, here in America and around the world, a real opportunity to know more about this
extraordinary woman.
What I wish to discuss this afternoon is how Eleanor Roosevelt's legacy as a person, as a
leader, as someone who in her own way makes human rights part of our everyday experience and
vocabulary, how she can help today to continue to guide us in protecting the human rights of all
people and, in particular, of children. I believe that this is an important piece of unfinished
business in our century and one of the challenges of the new millennium. It is of course more
than fitting to have this first conversation about human rights at this great university and
community --one which has always responded to the call of service, God, and humanity. It is the
home, as Father Donovan just reminded us, of a student community that sends more than a
thousand young people a year into Washington, DC schools and neighborhoods bringing math,
and reading, and role modeling, and friendship, and a hug to some of our nation's most
vulnerable children. It is the home of a brilliant faculty that has devoted their lives to their
students, to scholarship, to service. Whether it's in the classroom or in some other activity,
Georgetown continues to make an important mark on what we are as a people, how we define
ourselves now and in the future. It is certainly the home of many distinguished alumni who have
used the Jesuit ethos of service in this world, from Mark Gearan who sends Peace Corps
volunteers to every corner of the Earth, to George Mitchell who helped bring peace to Northern
Ireland, from my husband, to my Chief of Staff Melanne Verveer who is with me here today.
Now, as you might imagine, being somewhat in awe of this great university which has
produced so many important people and that has made so many important contributions to our
country, I thought I needed to discuss this speech with Eleanor Roosevelt. (laughter and
applause) When I first told people some years ago that I sometimes hold imaginary conversations
1
with Mrs. Roosevelt, there were some --particularly, I must say, in the journalistic community
--who thought they finally had irrefutable evidence that I'd gone off the deep end. (laughter)
Well, I only can commend to you this imaginary conversation technique --whether it is with a
parent, a grandparent or a beloved former teacher or a famous person --it does help to get your
ideas straight because you say, "What would my grandmother say about this?" Or, "what would
Mrs. Jones, who desperately tried to prevent me from dangling participles, have to say about
this?" So talking to Mrs. Roosevelt, even in my imagination, has proven to be a very great
source of strength and inspiration. You can imagine some of the situations I find myself in when
I say, "Oh my good gracious, what would Mrs. Roosevelt say?" (laughter)
As anyone can tell you, particularly my daughter, I am technologically challenged. But, I
decided in preparation for this speech to try a more modern, more acceptable way of
communicating. So, first I tried to email her at [email protected], but I think the server
was down. I tried calling on her cell phone, but the circuits were busy. Then I tried paging her
but was told she had traveled to another part of Heaven to work with a group of angels on strike,
and that I would need a universal skypage to get through to her.
So there I was last night, I got home from New York late, worried about what I was going
to say, staring at some pages of print when I realized that her life has already given us the
guidance we need on today's topic so many times over. Not just some inspirational words that
we might hear in our minds, in our imaginary conversations such as, "The thing to remember is
to do the thing you think you cannot do." But also in her example, in the path that she created, in
the life that she lived. Wherever I go as First Lady, I am always reminded of one thing: that
usually, Eleanor Roosevelt has been there before. I've been to farms in Iowa and factories in
Michigan, welfare offices in New York, where Mrs. Roosevelt paid a visit more than half a
century ago. When I went to Pakistan and India we discovered that Eleanor Roosevelt had been
there in 1952, and had written a book about her experiences.
So I was particularly honored when I received the Eleanor Roosevelt Center Gold Medal
at Val-Kill. A beautiful wooded retreat where she went to entertain friends and family to think
and to write. As I walked through her home I tried to imagine again how she worked tirefessly
there for what she believed in. And I was told a story that I've never forgotten. It was a day in
the 1950s and she had a speech to give in New York. She was so sick that her throat was literally
bleeding. Everyone wanted her to cancel, but she refused. She drove from Hyde Park to 125th
Street in Harlem. And when she got out of the car, a young girl with her face beaming handed
her a bouquet of flowers. Eleanor Roosevelt turned to the person with her and said, "You see, I
had to come. She was expecting me."
Well, they were always expecting her and she always came. She came to give support
and to give a voice to those without either. To the migrant workers who watched her march
through fields that had been newly plowed and were thick with muck, they would just
matter-of-factly greet her by saying, "Oh Mrs. Roosevelt, you've come to see us." As if it were
the most natural thing in the world. To the Japanese -Americans during World War II and to
2
African Americans every day during her long life, she would help support people who faced
discrimination and challenges.
Another of my favorite stories is of an African American child, a first grader, whose
mother worked in a laundry mat. His father was a mechanic who couldn't get good work. They
lived in a tin shack without any foundation so every time it rained their house slid down the hill.
This child wrote to Eleanor Roosevelt telling her that his house was literally falling down a hill.
So she went to Kentucky, set up a meeting with the heads of the realty association and the banks,
which led not only that child getting his house on much firmer footing, but also eventually to
integrated housing in Lexington, Kentucky. The next year in the mail, he sent his second grade
picture to Mrs. Roosevelt and she carried it with her to remind her of the boy she had never
personally met. On the back, he had written his name with such care, erasing it many times so
that it was just right, that it left an imprint on the front of the photo. He also included a letter,
"Dear Mrs. Roosevelt," it said "Thank you for my house. I know you did it."
Without fanfare, she went anywhere and everywhere she thought her presence would
make a difference. She wanted to see with her own eyes the everyday violations that rob
individuals of their dignity and all of us of our humanity. And then she rolled up her sleeves and
tried to do something about what she saw.
And that is the path she is asking us to walk today; to open our eyes and hearts, to use our
minds and hands, and fulfill the promises of her greatest achievements of all, the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. It happened exactly 50 winters ago. As the Chair of the
commission drafting the Universal Declaration of Human rights, Eleanor Roosevelt worked
tirelessly from 1946 to 1948. Imagine how she must have felt on December 10, at 3:00 a.m.
when the nations of the world agreed to create this new common standard for human dignity.
We know how everyone else felt. The delegates stood and gave her a standing ovation.
Let me read a passage from that document: "The advent of a world in which human
beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief, freedom from fear and want have been
proclaimed as the highest aspirations of the common people." The declaration, as we know, did
not take place in a vacuum. As Father Donovan has already reminded us, it was a worldwide
response to evil, and I use that word deliberately. Those who study Hitler's rise to power and the
Holocaust know that the Nazis were able to pursue their crimes precisely because they were
successful at constricting the circle of those were defined as fully humans. The proceeded step
by step, through laws and propaganda --Jews, the mentally ill, the infirm, gypsies, homosexuals
-all of whom they identified as unworthy of life, as not human, as alien, other.
Throughout history, and even today, we have seen in many places and in many times this
cold dark region of the human soul, this schizophrenia of the soul that permits one group to
de-humanize another. And it was that all-too-human characteristic that the Declaration and
Eleanor Roosevelt wanted to help us resist. In the half century since the declaration, this
document has created an ideal that nations and individuals have reached towards, knowing that
3
they will never quite achieve it, but knowing that we must never stop trying. Many countries
have used the Declaration for their own constitutions. Courts of law look to it. It has laid the
groundwork for the world's war crimes tribunals.
At the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, it was the
strength and challenge of this Declaration that enabled us to say for the world to hear that human
rights are women's rights and women's rights are human rights. It was the power of the
Declaration that led in 1989 to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. I am
very proud that my husband signed that. And now I hope with all my heart that the United States
will join with the Vatican and all the other nations of the world except Somalia and ratify the
Convention once and for all. (applause) And this is why. In spite of our progress on human
rights over the last half century, it is unconscionable that we still have not seen the circle of
human dignity expanded to include all the children of our world. There are still too many
excluded from the Declaration, too many whose suffering we fail to see, to hear, to feel, or to
stop.
Now, any look back in the course of human history shows that every nation, every
society, has its blind spots. Spots that somehow prevent us from understanding how the full
circle of rights should include all of our fellow human beings. In our country it has taken us
most of our 222 years --most of them bloody, few of them easy --to extend the benefits of
citizenship to African Americans, to those without property, and to women. Eleanor Roosevelt
was 35 years old before she was given the right to vote.
And we also know --especially in this new global economy --that no nation can move
ahead when its children are left behind. Eleanor Roosevelt understood that. She knew that
whether we treated children with respect would not only determine the quality of our lives, but
also who we were as a nation and what kind of life it would be for the next generation. You
could see it in the way she talked to children. I've seen so many pictures of her bending down
from her tall frame and leaning her entire body over to hear a child, looking right into the eyes of
that child, trying to understand that child's dream, trying to convey that she believed in that little
boy or girl, and she always tried to give those children a voice.
The Declaration makes that clear. It reads, "All human beings are born free and equal in
dignity and rights." All human beings --it did not say all men, or all members of certain races,
regions or religions. It did not say all adults. It also did not make choices between children
because, in fact, it says specifically, " All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall
enjoy the same social protection." Because human rights are not given to us by a parent or the
government. They do not miraculously appear when we turn 18. No piece of paper can give
them or take them away. We know that children should be treated with extra care --not less.
And every child should be viewed as endowed with all rights and dignity accorded to all human
beings.
Now of course that's not always been the view of children. For millennia we viewed
4
children as the property of their families, principally of their fathers. They were mostly used for
work --work outside and inside the house. Parents were given the right in every culture to
abandon, ignore or sell their children. But over the centuries, we grew to understand that
children were not just little adults, that they need the care, discipline and the love of a family.
And we began to understand too --as industrialization spread across the world --that in order for
children to be successful in the world that is being created, they needed education, they needed
protection, they needed to grow slowly but surely into adulthood. We have to only go back to
the 19th century to see how different times were. In Dickens' Hard Times, poor children grow
up in a town where the black soot from the factory virtually extinguishes the sun and the school
is taught by a teacher appropriately named Choke M. Child. So in this century, we have begun to
appreciate more that children are people, are individuals, and not property.
Now what does that mean to us? Well, clearly in our country, it has meant passing laws,
and enforcing them to prevent children from being abused in labor; being abused by those who
are closest to them --their family; being given certain protections, whether they are caught up in
the court system or the welfare system; being given the right of --which sounds like an oxymoron
--compulsory education; being viewed in other words as people themselves who we must nurture
into full citizenship. If you've ever worked with children, you can see in their eyes how so often
we fail at that very fundamental task of respecting them. I've worked with abused and neglected
children for more than 25 years. I've looked into the eyes of many poor children, many
abandoned children, and I'm always amazed that there are some in our world who continue to
dismiss the suffering of children, who believe that somehow children are so resilient that they
will always bounce back, and it is not all of our responsibility to care for all of our children, and
that we interfere with the rights of parents when we do something as simple as try to prevent
children from being physically abused.
So we've changed attitudes, and we have seen great progress doing so here in our own
country and around the world. There are others who say that human rights are a Western
invention and that they come from a Judeo-Christian base and that they don't have universal
application. But we also know differently. We can go back and trace the roots of the beliefs that
were set forth in the Declaration. They were not invented 50 years ago. They are not the work
of a single culture, whether it is Confucius who articulated them in ancient China, or Sophocles
who wrote 2500 years ago about such rights and had Antigone declare there were ethical laws
higher than the laws of kings. But whether it is the Golden Rule --which appears in every
possible religion in one form or another --we know that at root we understand --whether we
admit it or not --that we as human beings are vowed to each other in a mutual realm of respect,
that we should nurture for our own sake, as well as for others.
Now what are these rights? Well, for children, the UN Convention on the Rights of the
Child declares that every child is born with the right to be protected from abuse and abduction,
violence and work that threatens his or her development. It says that every child has the right to
worship freely and express opinions and aspirations, that every child has the right to health, to
education, to life. These are the promises that Eleanor Roosevelt and every other champion of
5
human rights held out for all people, but it has been up to us adults to make these promises real
in the lives of children.
In many African villages, I'm told that neighbors greet each other not by saying hello, but
by asking, "How are the children?" Well the answer is that today, 50 years after the Declaration,
children are doing better around the world. They are more likely to live to see their 5th birthday
and even their 75th. In health, nutrition, education, water supply and sanitation, three out of five
countries are pretty much on track to reach the child survival goals set by the 1990 World
Summit on Children. Over the last two decades, infant immunization rates rose from 5 percent
to 80 percent, saving more than 3 million lives a year.
Around the world, I have personally seen governments and non-governmental
organizations come together to put the lives of children first. Just a few months ago, Yemen
adopted a national strategy for girls' education, including eliminating school fees for girls. Last
year in the United States, we extended health insurance to millions of children, and enacted the
Adoption and Safe Families Act, which says that our first priority in the child welfare system is
the health and well-being of children. There are many examples I could give you of the progress
we have made --certainly over 50 years, but even over 10 and the last 5 years. But still we have
to ask, "How are the children?" And the honest answer is, which children? Where do they live?
Who are their parents? How affluent are they? What kind of societies are they part of? Because,
despite the advances, in many places around the world children are not doing very well at all.
There are old foes like malnutrition and malaria and new foes like trafficking and child
prostitutes and laborers. There is still a long distance for us to travel.
Over the last few weeks I randomly had pulled headlines from around the world. From
Hong Kong, "Child Prostitutes Make Tearful Plea;" in Bangladesh, "The Plight of Street
Children;" in Nairobi, "Poverty Blamed for Child Labor." Eleanor Roosevelt certainly would be
the first to point out that a child's rights go far beyond simply responding to the images that we
see on TV, or that reach us through the Internet or the newspaper. We have to ask ourselves,
each of us, "What is it I can do? What is it I can ask others to do? How can I move my
government, my church, my friends forward to do more for children?"
I think there are some very specific ways we can bear witness and things we can do to
support those children whose lives are not much better today than they were 50 years ago, or who
face new challenges --like being kidnaped, or being forced into combat --that we didn't even
dream of 50 years ago. We have to understand that we can't just be satisfied by giving children
help and nutrition for emergencies. We have to look at root causes. We have to support work by
our own government, by our development agencies like USAID, by international organizations
such as UNICEF. And it is particularly important that we do not forget the faces of the children
here in our country, at this time of prosperity and peace. Americans have so many blessings, but
there are even those among us who are being left out.
If we talk about human rights and freedoms we have to ask ourselves, "What does that
6
mean to the 7 million children who still die every year of malnutrition?" What does it mean to
the 585,000 women who still die of childbirth complications or the girls who are fed last and fed
least because they are not valued as much as their brothers?
What meaning can it have for a child who does not have access to school or for one who
is shut out at school? We know that education, especially for girls, is the single best investment
any country can make. It is what will give children a better future, keep them out of the labor
market before they're ready, and keep them off the streets. And yet, 140 million primary school
age children are not in school --60 percent of that 140 million are girls. And I have seen
first-hand the obstacles, the cultural and economic obstacles that stand in the way of sending girls
to school. In a small village outside of Lahore, Pakistan I visited with mothers who had sent
their daughters to local primary school, and now they had daughters who had graduated who
wanted to go on with their education, but there was no secondary school. I've met with families
in Bangladesh, who in return for food and money permitted their daughters to go to school. It
was a bribe, but it was a worthy bribe.
I've also visited places where child labor is the norm not the exception and, as Eleanor
Roosevelt said when she championed the Child Labor Amendment in our own country so many
years ago, "No civilization should be based on the labor of children." But that is happening
every day --even in this country because children are being forced into labor, sold into labor, and
we are not doing enough about it. The types of labor children are subjected to in this new global
economy have perhaps changed, but not the impact on the child. It is not a problem of the past.
It should not be excused by saying that parents need money. And we should not close our eyes
to the work of children that goes into beautiful carpets or comfortable running shoes because the
fact remains that one quarter of the children in the developing world, 120 million, work full time.
It's a very difficult problem because many of them are the sole support of their families often
with widowed or abandoned mothers, with younger siblings, or they're helping to supplement the
hard earned income of a father.
The new face of child labor also includes things that I don't think Eleanor Roosevelt even
thought to worry about. Girls are being sold as part of an international trade in human beings
from South Asia, to the Middle East, to Central America. It is estimated that there are 250,000
children in Haiti alone who are virtually enslaved as domestic servants. I heard about that on my
recent trip to Haiti. How they are often given away, sold, separated from their families, sexually
and physically abused, malnourished, and literally sometimes worked to death. There are girls
that I've met in Northern Thailand, when I visited their village I could tell by looking at their
parents' homes which ones had sold their daughters into prostitution. The homes were bigger,
nicer, they sometimes even had an antenna or satellite on top. But the next day I visited with
some of the daughters that had been sold into the brothels in Bangkok and other cities who, after
they became infected with HIV, were thrown out onto the streets and found their way home.
They were rejected by their families, and thanks to the good services of relief and religious
organizations they were taken in. And I met those girls --some of them as young as 12 --dying
from AIDS.
7
Eleanor Roosevelt worked hard to rescue European refugee children during World War
II. But I don't know if she, or anyone, could have seen the horrific ways in which children are
now being brutalized by war. Until relatively recently in human history, war was being fought
out between soldiers. Some conscripts, some volunteers, but by in large adult men --counting
teenagers in their mid to late teens in some societies who were part of whatever the war effort
was. In the last twenty or so years, that has increasingly not been the case. Who will speak
today for the two million children that have been in conflicts in the last two decades, with six
million seriously injured or permanently disabled, the one million left without parents or the
twelve million left without homes? The primary victims of modern warfare are women, and
children, and civilians --people who are picked on as victims, who are kidnaped by perpetrators,
who are forced into being refugees. Who will speak for those children who are being used as
instruments of war? From the young girls systematically raped in Bosnia, to the quarter of a
million child soldiers around the world.
Who will speak for the three children I recently met in Uganda --Janet Issac and Betty?
Like many children in Northern Uganda, they have literally been stolen from their homes. The
boys are used in battle as human shields. The girls are sent into slave labor, usually raped, and
then given away as wives to rebel commanders. The children are often forced to kill other
children who don't obey or try to escape. The rebels call themselves soldiers but they are
cowards, for only cowards would hide behind children in battle.
I met the head of a boarding school, a nun, Sister Rachele. Her 139 female students had
been the subject of a raid by the rebels who had crossed the Sudanese border, had taken the
school, tied the girls up, beaten them, and then taken them all away into the dead of night. But
this tiny little woman of God was determined to get them back. She went after them, she was
armed usually only with her faith, but she was able to pull together some funds to ransom some
of the children out. She served as a safe haven for those who could find their way back. Many
have, but I was sad to talk with the mother of one of those students who has not been rescued.
Her mother doesn't know if she's alive or dead. She only knows that she was taken as part of a
war that she has no say in whatsoever.
We also know that we cannot fulfill the journey that the Declaration started us on when
100 million street children now live in the developing world alone. They are out of school,
without homes or families. They're left to take care of themselves, they roam the streets in
tattered clothing, they sell gum, and they beg and they dig through the trash for food. I've seen
them in Bulgaria. Roma children --one of the most discriminated against groups in Europe --you
might call them gypsies. Roma children, sometimes by their own parents, are put out on the
street to beg. Or if there are too many children in the family some are just left there. Or if they
want to go to school instead of turning tricks they are left there.
I also saw them in Brazil where three street children a day are killed, usually by police
doing the bidding of merchants who are tired of having these children camped in front of their
stores. In both Bulgaria and Brazil, I saw how caring people can make a difference. I visited a
8
center run by a Bulgarian-American who has taken in children off the streets who are now going
to school and learning, and thinking about a better future. But it's a small number of those that
need to be helped. I visited a unique program in Brazil in Salvador de Bahia. A circus school
where children were taken in and taught skills to entertain people who would come and see them
perform. They would then have money so they could be housed, and given food, and educated
--children who once had no future, thinking they wouldn't have one. It's not only in warm
places like Brazil --I visited a center for street children in Mongolia where the children, because
of the rapid changes in social life, because of problems adjusting to the new global economy, are
either being pushed out or running away from homes that are in a great deal of stress and turmoil.
When we think about what is happening with these tens of millions of children around the
world, we certainly cannot forget that there are still children here in Washington, DC and
throughout America that need their rights protected as well. We should not, for example,
condemn violence against children in Kosovo and turn away from it on the streets of
Washington. We cannot mourn the children of Mongolia and forget about homeless children
here, or raise our voices about children out of school in Guatemala and close our mouths when
young people here drop out. We have to do better by our own children as well. We've been
making progress here and around the world.
I've been pleased that this administration, under the President, has put the protection of
children on the front burner. For example, this year, we are increasing by tenfold our U.S.
commitment to take children out of abusive workrooms and put them in classrooms all over the
world. Since September, the Voice of America has been broadcasting monthly public service
announcements asking parents if they've talked about their children's health today, focusing on
child survival issues, talking hard talk in some places, like not feeding your girl children, or
being exposed to HIV and AIDS. We join with Ukraine to combat trafficking of girls in and out
of that country. And from Guatemala to Nepal, I've seen how small investments in educational
scholarships for girls, or safe birthing kits, or Vitamin A, can lift up and transform lives. So
there is much that we can point to that is heading in the right direction, but there is much more
we have to do.
Another story from Eleanor Roosevelt. She once talked about receiving a letter from an
African American boy who had taken a drink out of what was then considered the wrong water
fountain, and he was beaten up for it. He sent her the cup he had used to get the water and
explained what happened. She not only kept that cup, she carried it around with her as a
reminder of all the work yet to be done. I wish we each had some little talisman that we could
carry around with us, that would remind us everyday of the work still to be done. I hope we
remember the children who are victims and weapons of war when Congress revisits our United
Nations dues. It should be unacceptable to all Americans of any political persuasion that the
richest and most powerful country in the world is the number one debtor to the United Nations.
(applause)
I hope we remember the children toiling in glass and shoe factories as we work to fulfill
9
the promises and one day ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. I
hope we continue to do all that we can to help promote democracy around the world to make sure
that all parents have a voice that will be heard from the ballot box, and even the soap box, so they
can speak out on behalf of the needs of their children. We know that we have to do more than
pass, and even implement new laws. We have to teach people that they do have rights, and how
to exercise them.
I was particularly pleased by an American-funded project I saw recently in Senegal.
Where out in the villages they're learning about democracy, they're acting out skits. Someone
stands up and expresses an opinion and then another stands up and they discuss it and take a vote
on it. The rudiments of democracy. And in this skit are both men and women participating. As
a result of that democracy skit one small village, after talking about issues that effected them
--health, the education of their children --to put an end to female circumcision. That was a very
brave decision. They convinced people in the village that it should be done, and they put it to a
vote and they voted for it. And then, two men in their village went from their village to other
villages and started talking to the people in the other villages and explaining that they had read
the Koran and there was nothing in it that talked about this. It was not good for their daughters,
it sometimes led to them hemorrhaging and bleeding to death, and sometimes caused grave
complications in childbirth. Slowly, village after village began to recognize that it was a
fundamental right of a young girl to grow up whole, to have her health protected. And then, the
next thing I knew I got a letter saying these villages had banded together and presented a petition
to the President and that a law would be passed. Now that law will not end this cultural custom,
but it will begin to change attitudes about it. More and more girls and women will say, "No, this
is not necessary."
There are certain rights to health that we need to protect. First, think of what we could
accomplish if we valued and respected every child, with particular emphasis on girl children,
because they are still the most at risk in so many societies around the globe. If we are to put
children's rights on the same level as adult's rights, then we have to think about what it is that we
want for our own children. Those of us in this beautiful Gaston Hall, who try to keep our
children healthy, who try to give them good educations that lead to a fine university education
like this one here at Georgetown. We try to protect them from abuse and neglect and
abandonment and desertion. We try not to put them to work in full time jobs before they are
ready. So we have to think about what we want for ourselves, and in many countries where some
of the worst violations of children's rights occur, those who are in power protect their own
children and then look at others' children as being beyond the circle of human dignity.
So we have to complete that circle, and that falls to every generation. It fell to our
parents who fought off depression and oppression. It fell to the generation that fought for civil
rights and for human rights. And it falls to each of us, particularly the students who are here
today. I like very much the article that Tracy Roosevelt recently wrote. She talked about the
legacy that her great grandmother left all of us and that any young person could follow by
standing up for the rights of others by standing against stereotyping of any person or group of
10
people.
Now we might not have Eleanor Roosevelt's stature --either in height or in life --but each
of us can contribute to a child's future. We can make sure that we are part of a society that
values health care for everyone, a good education for everyone, the strength of families to give
them the tools they need to raise their own children with future possibilities, to make sure we do
everything we can to live free from abuse and violence and war, and to make it possible for every
person and every child to speak freely and live up to their own God-given potential.
As we look forward to the next fifty years, we will face many challenges and
opportunities. It was almost 50 years ago that Eleanor Roosevelt spoke about this. She spoke
about democracy and human rights to a group of students, both high school and college students,
in New York. As we listen to her those words still ring true today. She said, "Imagine it's you
people gathered here in this room who are going to do a great deal of the thinking and the actual
doing because a good many of us are not going to see the end of this period. You are going to
live in a dangerous world for quite a while I guess, but it's going to be an interesting and
adventurous one. I wish you courage to face yourselves and when you know what you really
want to fight for, not in a war, but to fight for in order to gain a peace, then I wish for you
imagination and understanding. God bless you. May you win."
Those words are just as true for this generation of students as they were fifty years ago for
the ones that Eleanor Roosevelt spoke to. I go back to that first story, despite how sick she was,
she showed up and took that bouquet of flowers from that young girl. "You see" she said, "I had
to come, she was expecting me." Think about all of the children who are expecting us. Think
about, as we go forward into Advent and celebrate this Christmas season, about a particular child
who no one was expecting but grew up to give us a chance to think anew, to live again in ways
that connect us more deeply and profoundly to one another. Eleanor Roosevelt can serve as an
inspiration, and a reminder that although as President Kennedy said, "God's work on this Earth is
our own," we know that we can never complete it. But we know that we can live richer lives if
we try. To the children of America and the world, you see, we have to come, because they are
expecting us to make good on the promises that were made to them fifty years ago.
###
11
CDC
CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL
AND PREVENTION
facsimile
TRANSMITTAL
TO: Doug Snider White House Speech Office
Date: April 14, 1999
Phone: 202-456-2777
Fax: 202 456 2505
Doug,
You had asked for information about the number of children exposed to environmental hazards
worldwide. 1 checked with our folks in CDC's National Center for Environmental Health,
National Center for Health Statistics, Agency for Toxic Substances Disease Registery, and
National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health. Here's the information that I found:
1. The World Hcalth Organization (WHO) published: WHO's Health and Environment in
Sustainable Development--five years after the Earth Summit, 1997. We found found data from
one table listing the # of deaths due to different diseases and combined it with another that listed
the % of those deaths due to environmental causes. Below is a paragraph from the WHO book
talking about the environmental impact on these diseases.
"In different ways and to different degrees, each of the disease and disability categories discussed
above owc their presence to one environmental factor or another. A summary portrayal of the
environmental portion of the global burden of disease is given in Table 5.14. Applying these
percentages across the diseases and conditions indicated leads to an estimate of the total DALY
burden that is associated with environmental factors. This is 320 470 or 23% of the world's total
DALY burden.
The percentages shown reflect how important these factors are in causing the burden and indicate
how much their control would contribute to its reduction. Thus, even though many diseases
(diarrhoeal diseases, malaria, measles, polio and tetanus) might be arguably 100%
environmental, a lesser percentage is indicated because of the availability of effective preventive
and curative care, including vaccines in some instances...."
Doug, some of the cnvironmental exposures listed include: exposure to indoor and outdoor air
pollution; crowding; poor housing conditions; poor sanitation, water supply and food safety. I'm
sorry that I don't have a public affairs point of contact in WHO (in the event that you need to
follow up on the information above).
2. Environmental Exposure to Children in the US: Attached is an ATSDR fact sheet about
Children and Hazardous Waste Sites (US).
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3. Finally, here are some data on work-related hazards affecting youths and children that may be
useful from CDC's NIOSH.
--11ome contamination by beryllium, lead, asbestos, pesticides, mercury, asthmatogens/allergons,
and other substances carried home on workers' clothing and bodies may pose a serious public
health problem. Health effects and deaths from workplace contaminants brought into the home
have been reported in 36 states and 28 countries. (For example, in the first comprehensive study
of home lead contamination among construction workers, NIOSH in 1997 found that children of
lead-exposed construction workers were six times more likely to have blood-lead levels over the
recommended limit than children whose parents did not work in construction.) A 1997 NIOSH
cducational document ("Protect Your Family: Reduce Contamination at Home," DHHS [NIOSH]
No. 97-125) provides workers, their families, and others with practical information for
recognizing and preventing potential home contamination risks, based on a major study
conducted at the direction of Congress.
--Workplace exposures can posc reproductive risks, including risks of birth defects and
developmental disorders from workplace exposures to lead, infectious agents, and jonizing
radiation. NIOSH has issued easy-to-read cducational documents on the effects of workplace
hazards on male and female reproductive health and is working closely with diverse partners to
advance rescarch on fertility and pregnancy abnormalities under the National Occupational
Research Agenda, NORA.
--Youths under 18 are at risk from preventable work-related injuries. The Department of Labor
reported 62 deaths of workers under 18 in 1997, and NIOSH estimates that another 70,000 were
injured seriously cnough to require treatment in hospital emergency rooms. The three leading
categories of work-related fatalitics (motor vehicle deaths, homicide, and machine-related
deaths) claim 16- and 17-year-old workers at rates comparable to or slightly higher than rates for
adult workers. NIOSH is conducting key research for preventing such injuries and deaths, and
works closely with industry, cducators, and others to disscminate information to youths, parents,
the hcalth community, and others.
More details are available as needed (additional stats on home contamination, industry-specific
injury rates for adolescent workers, etc.)
From the desk of
Gail Hayes
Senior Press Officer
CDC Office of Communication Media Relations Division
1600 Clifton Road NE
Atlanta, GA 30333
404-639-3286
fax: 404-639-7394
email: [email protected]
web: www.cdc.gov
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information edited from WHO2 Health & Emirronment in Sustainable
Development- 5 years often The Earth Summit, 1992
Disease
# Deaths (0-14 yrs old) x1000
Environmental Fraction
# Deaths due to Environmental causes x1000
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ARI
2918
0.6
1750.8
Diarrheal
2585
0.9
2326.5
Vaccine-preventable inf.
1897
0.1
189.7
TB
139
0.1
13.9
Malaria
699
0.9
629.1
Injuries (Unintentional)
1065
0.3
319.5
Mental Health
96
0.1
9.6
CVD
441
0.1
44.1
Cancer
163
0.25
40.75
Chronic Resp. dz
185
0.5
92.5
Total
10188
5416.45
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Using data from approximately 1,500 National Priorities List (NPL) sites, ATSDR estimates
there are approximately 1,553,573 children 6 years of age or younger living within 1 mile of an
NPL site. The total population at those sites was 14,295,510 people. Approximately 11% of the
potentially affected population are children 6 years of age or younger.
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ATSDR
AGENCY FOR TOXIC SUBSTANCES
AND DIEGASE REGISTRY
Children and Hazardous
Waste Sites
Children Are Not Small Adults
doses per body weight. Their developing
In the United States, about one in four chil-
body systems can sustain permanent dam-
dren live within 4 miles of a hazardous waste
age if toxic exposures occur during critical
site. Of public health importance is that
growth stages. Most importantly, children
children are not small adults! Children who
depend completely on adults for risk man-
live near such sites often have greater expo-
agement decisions, housing decisions, and
sures, greater potential for health problems,
access to medical care.
and less ability to avoid hazards. Although
the many differences between children and
Special Vulnerability
adults are obvious to pediatric specialists,
to Health Risks
these differences demand special emphasis
Developing human beings-In the womb and
In communities faced with contamination of
through puberty-can be uniquely vulnerable
their water, soil, air, or food.
to environmental toxicants, depending on
Children are clearly at greater risk from
the substance and the exposure situation.
certain kinds of expo-
The Agency for Toxic Substances and
sures to hazardous
Disease Registry (ATSDR)
substances emitted from
has long advocated a
waste sites and emer-
comprehensive approach
gency events. They are
to promoting the environ-
more likely to be ex-
mental health of children.
posed because they play
ATSDR has confirmed,
vigorously outside
from more than 10 years
(splashing, digging, and
of public health assess-
exploring) and they often
ments, toxicologic investi-
bring food into contami-
gations, epidemiologic
nated areas. They are
studies, and reviews by
shorter than adults, which
expert workgroups, that
means they breathe dust,
children have unique
soil, and heavy vapors
characteristics that often
close to the ground; they
place them at greater risk
are also smaller, which
than adults when they live
means they get higher
near hazardous waste
sites. ATSDR's Interest in
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preventing toxic exposures and promoting
reduced neurobehavioral and periph-
the health of children can be traced to its
eral nerve functioning when tested
earliest community health investigations and
15-20 years after exposure.
to certain special reports, such as the 1988
Children living near a municipal waste
document The Nature and Extent of Child.
incinerator had a threefold increase in
hood Lead Poisoning in the United
risk of lower respiratory tract infection.
States: A Report to Congress. The following
examples of peer-reviewed work in this area
In communities adjacent to many NPL
were conducted or supported by ATSDR:
sites throughout the United States, ele
vated blood lead levels were found In
In five states, the prevalence of speech
children who played near the sites,
and hearing impairments was elevated
washed hands infrequently, and had
among children exposed to drinking
other behavioral risk factors.
water contami-
nated withTCE
Early public health action
from hazardous
to remove children and
waste sites.
families from their apart-
ments in a former factory
The rate of con-
building in New Jersey
genital defects
prevented excessive
was increased
mercury exposure and
among newborn
provided clinical examina-
babies whose
tions and long-term
parents drank
followup.
water contami
nated by TCE
Children exposed to
from hazardous
indoor spraying of the
waste.
pesticide methyl parathion
are currently under health
Women who resided on a Mohawk reser-
surveillance in several
vation downstream from polluting facto-
cities.
ries on the St. Lawrence River and who
ate fish caught in the nver had PCBs in
To deliver high quality care to exposed
their breast milk. PCB concentrations in
children, ATSDR established pediatric
the urine of some of their children were
environmental medicine referral units in
10 times higher than in the breast milk
Boston, New York City, and Seattle.
the infants consumed.
ATSDR's Office of
Newborn bables exposed to PCBs in
Children's Health
utero because their mothers ate large
In 1998, ATSDR established an Office of
amounts of contaminated fish showed
Children's Health to (1) emphasize child
immature responses on the Brazelton
health in all agency programs and activities,
Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale.
(2) identify new projects that benefit chil-
Persons who were exposed during child
dren, and (3) solicit input from and dissemi-
hood to lead from a smelter in Idaho had
nate information to partner agencies and
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organizations. ATSDR's office complements
Girl Scout Badge
formation of an Office of Children's Health
ATSDR and the Ozark
Protection at the U.S. Environmental Protec-
NO
PER
Area Girl Scout Council
helped girl scouts earn
tion Agency and a child health subcommit-
this badge by educating
tee of the Environmental Health Policy
OAGSC
their community about
Council at the U.S. Department of Health
lead-contaminated mine
wastes.
and Hurnan Services. ATSDR is working to
mobilize outside interest and enhance capac-
Child Health Workgroup
ity in the emerging field of pediatric environ-
ATSDR's external Board of Scientific Coun-
mental health and to focus attention on
selors appointed a multidisciplinary Child
human populations and their most vulner
Health Workgroup composed of nationally
able constituents, including children, ATSDR
recognized experts in various fields. The
has compiled Children and Youth Health
workgroup reviewed existing data on envi-
Activities Inventory, which lists all activities
ronmental hazards to child health and re
that have a unique emphasis on children.
viewed ATSDR's public health programs in
There is an equally compelling need to
detail with a particular focus on children. The
educate children and their parents, as well as
following persons serve on this workgroup:
child health providers and advocates, to
prevent hazards to child health from toxic
Cynthia F. Bearer, M.D., Ph.D.
substances emitted from hazardous waste
Rainbow Bables and Children's Hospital
sites and chemical releases. The child health
Cleveland, OH
initiative is a logical extension of ATSDR's
David Bellinger, Ph.D., M.Sc.
overall mission and the role of public health
Harvard Medical School, Children's Hospital
Boston, MA
in preventing human health risks from
Joy E. Carlson, M.P.H.
hazardous substances In the environment.
Childrens Environmental Health Network
Emeryville, CA
Millicent Collins, M.D.
DC General Hospital
Washington, DC
Joan M. Cranmer, Ph.D.
Arkansas Children's Hospital
Little Rock, AR
Lorne K. Garrettson, M.D. (Chair)
Georgia Poison Control Center
Atlanta, GA
Carole A. Kimmel, Ph.D.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Washington, DC
Philip J. Landrigan, M.D.
ML Sinai School of Medicine
New York, NY
Susanne T. White Sims, M.D., M.P.H.
Meharry Medical College
Nashville. TN
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Partner Organizations
ATSDR has formed partnerships with several key nongovernment organizations to amplify the
effectiveness of its programs and to form a closer association between the specialists and advo-
cates in child health, public health, and environmental health. For example, ATSDR seeks to help
child health advocates learn environmental science and help environmental scientists learn child
health. ATSDR Invites its partner organizations and other interested groups to submit technical
reports, case studies, and other experiences and to suggest additional areas of emphasis. ATSDR
is not seeking financial assistance from partners. The following organizations are partners in
ATSDR's Child Health Initiative:
American Academy of Pediatrics
Children's Health Environmental Coalition
American Association of Occupational
Girl Scouts of the U.S.A.
Health Nurses
Interamerican College of Physicians
American Association of Poison
and Surgeons
Control Centers
Kids for Saving Earth Worldwide
American College of Occupational and
Learning Disabilities Association
Environmental Medicine
of America
American College of Preventive Medicine
March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation
American Medical Association
National Association of Children's
American Public Health Association
Hospitals and Related Institutions
Asian American & Pacific Islander
National Association of County and
Health Promotion
City Health Officials
Association of Occupational and
National Environmental Health
Environmental Clinics
Association
Association of State and Territorial
National Medical Association
Health Officials
National PTA
Children's Environmental Health Network
Natural Resources Defense. Council
Physicians for Social Responsibility
Sierra Club
DE
ATSDR Child Health Web Page
ATSDR's web site features detailed informa-
tion about the Child Health Initiative, including
timely updates and useful linkages in the field
of pediatric environmental health. ATSDR's
Child Health Web Page is accessible on the
Internet at the following address:
What's
Now?
http://atsdrl.atsdr.cdc.gov:8080/child
For more information, contact the ATSDR Information Center at (800) 447-1544 or the
ATSDR Chief Medical Officer, Robert W. Amler, M.D., M.S., at (404) 639-0700.
November 1998
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