Protection of Children From Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks

[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 78 (Wednesday, April 23, 1997)]

[Presidential Documents]

[Pages 19885-19888]

From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

[FR Doc No: 97-10695]

[[Page 19883]]

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Part V

The President

_______________________________________________________________________

Executive Order 13045--Protection of Children From Environmental Health

Risks and Safety Risks

Presidential Documents

Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 78 / Wednesday, April 23, 1997 /

Presidential Documents

___________________________________________________________________

Title 3--

The President

[[Page 19885]]

Executive Order 13045 of April 21, 1997

Protection of Children From Environmental Health

Risks and Safety Risks

By the authority vested in me as President by the

Constitution and the laws of the United States of

America, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Policy.

1-101. A growing body of scientific knowledge

demonstrates that children may suffer

disproportionately from environmental health risks and

safety risks. These risks arise because: children's

neurological, immunological, digestive, and other

bodily systems are still developing; children eat more

food, drink more fluids, and breathe more air in

proportion to their body weight than adults; children's

size and weight may diminish their protection from

standard safety features; and children's behavior

patterns may make them more susceptible to accidents

because they are less able to protect themselves.

Therefore, to the extent permitted by law and

appropriate, and consistent with the agency's mission,

each Federal agency:

(a) shall make it a high priority to identify and

assess environmental health risks and safety risks that

may disproportionately affect children; and

(b) shall ensure that its policies, programs,

activities, and standards address disproportionate

risks to children that result from environmental health

risks or safety risks.

1-102. Each independent regulatory agency is encouraged

to participate in the implementation of this order and

comply with its provisions.

Sec. 2. Definitions. The following definitions shall

apply to this order.

2-201. ``Federal agency'' means any authority of the

United States that is an agency under 44 U.S.C. 3502(1)

other than those considered to be independent

regulatory agencies under 44 U.S.C. 3502(5). For

purposes of this order, ``military departments,'' as

defined in 5 U.S.C. 102, are covered under the auspices

of the Department of Defense.

2-202. ``Covered regulatory action'' means any

substantive action in a rulemaking, initiated after the

date of this order or for which a Notice of Proposed

Rulemaking is published 1 year after the date of this

order, that is likely to result in a rule that may:

(a) be ``economically significant'' under Executive

Order 12866 (a rulemaking that has an annual effect on

the economy of $100 million or more or would adversely

affect in a material way the economy, a sector of the

economy, productivity, competition, jobs, the

environment, public health or safety, or State, local,

or tribal governments or communities); and

(b) concern an environmental health risk or safety

risk that an agency has reason to believe may

disproportionately affect children.

2-203. ``Environmental health risks and safety risks''

mean risks to health or to safety that are attributable

to products or substances that the child is likely to

come in contact with or ingest (such as the air we

breath, the food we eat, the water we drink or use for

recreation, the soil we live on, and the products we

use or are exposed to).

Sec. 3. Task Force on Environmental Health Risks and

Safety Risks to Children.

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3-301. There is hereby established the Task Force on

Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks to Children

(``Task Force'').

3-302. The Task Force will report to the President in

consultation with the Domestic Policy Council, the

National Science and Technology Council, the Council on

Environmental Quality, and the Office of Management and

Budget (OMB).

3-303. Membership. The Task Force shall be composed of

the:

(a) Secretary of Health and Human Services, who

shall serve as a Co-Chair of the Council;

(b) Administrator of the Environmental Protection

Agency, who shall serve as a Co-Chair of the Council;

(c) Secretary of Education;

(d) Secretary of Labor;

(e) Attorney General;

(f) Secretary of Energy;

(g) Secretary of Housing and Urban Development;

(h) Secretary of Agriculture;

(i) Secretary of Transportation;

(j) Director of the Office of Management and

Budget;

(k) Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality;

(l) Chair of the Consumer Product Safety

Commission;

(m) Assistant to the President for Economic

Policy;

(n) Assistant to the President for Domestic

Policy;

(o) Assistant to the President and Director of the

Office of Science and Technology Policy;

(p) Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers; and

(q) Such other officials of executive departments

and agencies as the President may, from time to time,

designate.

Members of the Task Force may delegate their

responsibilities under this order to subordinates.

3-304. Functions. The Task Force shall recommend to the

President Federal strategies for children's

environmental health and safety, within the limits of

the Administration's budget, to include the following

elements:

(a) statements of principles, general policy, and

targeted annual priorities to guide the Federal

approach to achieving the goals of this order;

(b) a coordinated research agenda for the Federal

Government, including steps to implement the review of

research databases described in section 4 of this

order;

(c) recommendations for appropriate partnerships

among Federal, State, local, and tribal governments and

the private, academic, and nonprofit sectors;

(d) proposals to enhance public outreach and

communication to assist families in evaluating risks to

children and in making informed consumer choices;

(e) an identification of high-priority initiatives

that the Federal Government has undertaken or will

undertake in advancing protection of children's

environmental health and safety; and

(f) a statement regarding the desirability of new

legislation to fulfill or promote the purposes of this

order.

3-305. The Task Force shall prepare a biennial report

on research, data, or other information that would

enhance our ability to understand, analyze,

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and respond to environmental health risks and safety

risks to children. For purposes of this report, cabinet

agencies and other agencies identified by the Task

Force shall identify and specifically describe for the

Task Force key data needs related to environmental

health risks and safety risks to children that have

arisen in the course of the agency's programs and

activities. The Task Force shall incorporate agency

submissions into its report and ensure that this report

is publicly available and widely disseminated. The

Office of Science and Technology Policy and the

National Science and Technology Council shall ensure

that this report is fully considered in establishing

research priorities.

3-306. The Task Force shall exist for a period of 4

years from the first meeting. At least 6 months prior

to the expiration of that period, the member agencies

shall assess the need for continuation of the Task

Force or its functions, and make appropriate

recommendations to the President.

Sec. 4. Research Coordination and Integration.

4-401. Within 6 months of the date of this order, the

Task Force shall develop or direct to be developed a

review of existing and planned data resources and a

proposed plan for ensuring that researchers and Federal

research agencies have access to information on all

research conducted or funded by the Federal Government

that is related to adverse health risks in children

resulting from exposure to environmental health risks

or safety risks. The National Science and Technology

Council shall review the plan.

4-402. The plan shall promote the sharing of

information on academic and private research. It shall

include recommendations to encourage that such data, to

the extent permitted by law, is available to the

public, the scientific and academic communities, and

all Federal agencies.

Sec. 5. Agency Environmental Health Risk or Safety Risk

Regulations.

5-501. For each covered regulatory action submitted to

OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs

(OIRA) for review pursuant to Executive Order 12866,

the issuing agency shall provide to OIRA the following

information developed as part of the agency's

decisionmaking process, unless prohibited by law:

(a) an evaluation of the environmental health or

safety effects of the planned regulation on children;

and

(b) an explanation of why the planned regulation is

preferable to other potentially effective and

reasonably feasible alternatives considered by the

agency.

5-502. In emergency situations, or when an agency is

obligated by law to act more quickly than normal review

procedures allow, the agency shall comply with the

provisions of this section to the extent practicable.

For those covered regulatory actions that are governed

by a court-imposed or statutory deadline, the agency

shall, to the extent practicable, schedule any

rulemaking proceedings so as to permit sufficient time

for completing the analysis required by this section.

5-503. The analysis required by this section may be

included as part of any other required analysis, and

shall be made part of the administrative record for the

covered regulatory action or otherwise made available

to the public, to the extent permitted by law.

Sec. 6. Interagency Forum on Child and Family

Statistics.

6-601. The Director of the OMB (``Director'') shall

convene an Interagency Forum on Child and Family

Statistics (``Forum''), which will include

representatives from the appropriate Federal statistics

and research agencies. The Forum shall produce an

annual compendium (``Report'') of the most important

indicators of the well-being of the Nation's children.

6-602. The Forum shall determine the indicators to be

included in each Report and identify the sources of

data to be used for each indicator. The

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Forum shall provide an ongoing review of Federal

collection and dissemination of data on children and

families, and shall make recommendations to improve the

coverage and coordination of data collection and to

reduce duplication and overlap.

6-603. The Report shall be published by the Forum in

collaboration with the National Institute of Child

Health and Human Development. The Forum shall present

the first annual Report to the President, through the

Director, by July 31, 1997. The Report shall be

submitted annually thereafter, using the most recently

available data.

Sec. 7. General Provisions.

7-701. This order is intended only for internal

management of the executive branch. This order is not

intended, and should not be construed to create, any

right, benefit, or trust responsibility, substantive or

procedural, enforceable at law or equity by a party

against the United States, its agencies, its officers,

or its employees. This order shall not be construed to

create any right to judicial review involving the

compliance or noncompliance with this order by the

United States, its agencies, its officers, or any other

person.

7-702. Executive Order 12606 of September 2, 1987 is

revoked.

(Presidential Sig.)

THE WHITE HOUSE,

April 21, 1997.

[FR Doc. 97-10695

Filed 4-22-97; 8:49 am]

Billing code 3195-01-P