New data show decline in children's exposure to pollutants.

The percentage of children living in counties that do not meet the air quality standard for fine particulate matter declined from 24 percent to 16 percent from 1999 to 2004, according to data recently released by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA).

The data come from an update to America's Children and the Environment, U.S. EPA's compilation of information from federal databases that provide information about children's exposure to environmental pollutants. This compilation is an important instrument that helps the agency gauge its progress in carrying out its mission.

Other highlights indicate that children under six years of age are less likely to be regularly exposed to secondhand smoke at home, with the figures decreasing from 27 percent of children in 1994 to 11 percent in 2003, and that the concentration of lead in young children's blood has gone down by 89 percent over a period of 25 years.

The data look at trends in environmental-contaminant levels in air, water, food, and soil; concentrations of contaminants measured in the bodies of children and women; and childhood illnesses and health conditions, such as asthma, that may be influenced by exposure to environmental contaminants.

A previous account of these trends was published in a 2003 U.S. EPA report; the new update adds from two to five years of additional data for each measure.

For more information on America's Children and the Environment, visit www.epa.gov/envirohealth/children/index.htm.