A parent scoping out a child-care center might have several concerns: What training do the employees have? How often are toys cleaned? How many children do they care for?

The Oregon Environmental Council (OEC) wants to lessen worry for parents in at least one area-environmental health-by sticking an Eco-Healthy label on centers that qualify. The OEC, a nonprofit organization, initiated the Eco-Healthy Childcare Program in 2005. Facilitators from centers all over the state voluntarily complete a checklist (PDF); if a center conforms to at least 20 of the 25 best practices, including two required items, it is then certified as an Eco-Healthy Childcare Center and endorsed by the OEC.

The items on the checklist, put together by the OEC and an advisory committee made up of child-care and health experts, concern the use of household products such as pesticides, cleaners, and plastic toys, as well as habits such as recycling. The two mandatory best practices establish that the center uses only nontoxic pesticides and that no smoking occurs on the premises.

Sara Leverette, the OEC's outreach program director, says reducing children's exposure to toxins is one of the council's initiatives. "Children are more vulnerable to toxic exposures for a number of reasons," she notes. "Children eat, breathe, and drink more, pound for pound, than adults do. If there is a chemical in any of those exposure routes, then it's likely they'll have a greater concentration. Organ, nervous, and immune systems are still developing, so chemicals can interfere with critical windows. For instance, when you're younger, you need calcium for bone development. Lead binds where calcium binds; you'll intake a lot more of it, and then it will stay in your body."

Daycare centers, where youngsters are playing, eating, and sleeping, are prime locations to focus on in the effort to reduce children's exposure to environmental chemicals. "Kids have natural habits that put them at risk for exposure, such as crawling on the floor or putting things in their mouths," says Leverette. "All those things make kids more vulnerable." Of the roughly 8,000 child-care centers in Oregon, the OEC has certified 132, which Leverette says represents over 3,200 children. The OEC hopes to have 300 Eco-Healthy centers by December 2008.

As a nonprofit, the OEC can't require child-care centers to change their ways, but the group has made it easy for the ones already in good environmental standing to get recognition. For those interested in making some changes, the checklist illustrates how simple it can be. "A lot of the checklist is habit-based," Leverette explains. "Most of the chemicals kids come in contact with are brought into a house, so it's a decision that people make, and it's a decision that's easily changed. A lot of it is low- to no-cost, and that's part of why it's effective."

Such programs, though, are still cutting-edge, according to Liz Blackburn, an outreach coordinator for the Environmental Protection Agency's children's health program. "People understand that early-childhood exposures are very significant," she says, "but there are some obstacles to figuring out how you incorporate a program like this into such a diverse and dispersed organization. You've got child-care centers with six kids and you've got centers with 50-and they couldn't be more different. But I think you're going to see more programs like this. Hopefully, we'll figure out how to translate some of the environmental health programs we've done in schools into child care."

The OEC isn't alone in working to make sure child-care facilities are safe and healthy environments. For example, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management's 5-Star Environmental Recognition Program has been handing out shiny eco-status labels for seven years now. The 5-Star program is also conducted by self-assessment; child-care center facilitators fill out a form to determine how far above the state standards they are in areas such as pesticide use, radon control, and asbestos risk. Of the 4,280 licensed child-care centers in Indiana, 50 to 60 have been recognized by the 5-Star program, which represents about 2,000 children, according to IDEM's Karen Teliha.

But Leverette says the Eco-Healthy Childcare Program, which last year won the EPA's Children's Environmental Health Excellence Award for outstanding commitment to protect children from environmental health risks, is unique in its function. Indeed, the OEC's program is a pioneer in terms of the reach of the organization and the breadth of its best practices. While the list covers long-studied chemicals such as mercury and lead, it also gives a nod to emerging science by including toxins such as phthalates and bisphenol A. And it doesn't intend to remain the only one of its kind; the group is seeking grant funding in order to come up with a plan to expand the initiative to other states.

In addition to the benefits it has for kids, earning an Eco-Healthy qualification is a way for child-care centers to set themselves apart. Carrie Riley is the director and owner of Apple Blossom Nursery School, an at-home day-care center and school. She read about the Eco-Healthy program when it launched, and started going through the checklist right away. "I immediately knew it would be a good link with what I'm doing," she says. Riley's school is based on the Waldorf education method, which engages the heart, the hands, and the head, according to the website of the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America. Therefore, she explains, the toys are made of materials such as driftwood, silk, and rocks ("things you'd find in nature, anyway"), the food is organic, and the wood on Apple Blossom's playground is untreated. Since Riley was already conscious of the environmental health of her home, qualification was fairly easy for her: "I just had to change the laundry soap."

Angela Molloy Murphy, who serves as both the director and a teacher at Portland's Rowanberry School, an in-home child-care center, says she didn't have to alter her habits, either, but the checklist reminded her of some details she might have overlooked. "We had a polyurethane coating on our climbing structure," she says. "When we made our additions to the climbing structure, I used a non-toxic sealant-I'm not sure I would've done that without the list." Murphy is hoping that the best practices become standard: "If all schools read the guidelines, and just made a few changes, then we'd make a bigger collective impact, and that would be pretty cool."

Riley says parents have found her school after seeking out an Eco-Healthy-qualified child-care center on the OEC's website. Her rates are a bit higher than average, she says, due to the costs of nontoxic, biodegradable cleaning products and organic foods. Families have responded favorably to her practices overall, but she sometimes has to explain that increased cost.

The OEC's website would say parents are enthusiastic-700 moms and dads visit each month looking for facilities that are using these best practices, and the number is increasing. Leverette credits this to a growing awareness of how toxins can negatively affect developing bodies. The only unhappy campers so far, according to Leverette, are the companies whose cleaning products and pesticides are being replaced by less toxic ones.

Leverette emphasizes that the program is not intended to scare parents, but to make them think about their choices. "There are plastic alternatives that have no correlation to health impacts," she says, "and then there is PVC and plastic #7, which are increasingly linked to health effects. Just being an educated consumer is a big part of it. It's not that if you buy a #7 water bottle your child is going to grow a third arm. But it's something to think about-like a child's diet. Cookies don't kill kids. But if all they eat are cookies, maybe there's something to think about."

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