"We are conducting a vast toxicological experiment in our society, in which our children and our children's children are the experimental subjects...."
-Herbert L. Needleman, M.D.

Improving the Environment for Our Children's Health, an exciting four-part lecture and dialogue series hosted by MEC member group LocalMotion, addresses the role the environment plays in children's development and well-being. Distinguished medical and environmental experts will present their work and discuss how Michigan citizens-and professionals-can become active in local communities.

The series begins November 6 with a presentation on Motherhood and the Environment by Dr. Sandra Steingraber. Through the eyes of a first time mother and ecologist, Steingraber weaves together the wonders of pregnancy with the concerns of a contaminated environment and reveals the extent to which environmental hazards now threaten each crucial stage of infant development.

In January, pediatrician Dr. Ruth Etzel will discuss how citizens and medical practitioners can improve children's environmental health. Etzel was appointed to the Michigan Environmental Science Board in 2000 to establish children's environmental health standards. Both Etzel and Dr. William Weil, the two medical doctors on the board, dissented strongly from the final report, stating it did not sufficiently protect children's health.

April brings the return of world-renowned epidemiologist, Dr. Devra Lee Davis. Her new book, When Smoke Ran Like Water: Tales of Environmental Deception and the Battle Against Pollution, documents the shocking toll of avoidable environmental pollutants-and asks why we remain silent. This story is very personal to Davis, who lost several family members during the 1948 smog emergency in Donora, Pennsylvania.

Finally, in May environmental leaders from around North America will form a roundtable to discuss what communities can do to protect children from environmental hazards.

Improving the Environment for Our Children's Health
LocalMotion's Third Annual Lecture Series

Place: Grosse Pointe War Memorial, 32 Lake Shore Drive
Time: Evening Lectures begin promptly at 7:00 PM o Cost: $5.00
Luncheon Lectures begin promptly at 12 Noon o Cost $25.00 ($10.00 tax deductible)
RSVP: LocalMotion: 356 Lakeland Avenue, Grosse Pointe, MI 48230

November 6, 2002 o Lunch and Evening Lecture
Motherhood and the Environment
-Dr. Sandra Steingraber

January 27, 2003 o Evening Lecture only
Ignoring Pollution? How Citizens and Medical Practitioners Can Help Improve Children's Environmental Health
-Dr. Ruth Etzel

April 9, 2003 o Lunch and Evening Lecture
Let's be Honest about Prevention: Why the Standard Approaches to Protecting Children's Health Need to Change
-Dr. Devra Lee Davis

May 6, 2003 o Evening Lecture only
What You Can Do Here and Now: How to Create a Local Environmental Coalition
Roundtable Discussion by Leading Exemplars of the Craft
-Lana Pollack, Facilitator, President, Michigan Environmental Council
-Debra Lynn Dadd, author and expert on eliminating toxins from the home
-Michael Harbut, MD, MPH, Director, Center for Occupational and Environmental Medicine in Southfield, Michigan
-Shelley Petrie, Executive Director, Toronto Environmental Alliance
-Amy Todisco, Executive Director, Consumer's Healthy Home Institute

For more information call LocalMotion at (734) 623-0773