Conversation with Nse Witherspoon, Executive Director of Children’s Environmental Health Network

Following the release of our report, “Problem Plastic: How Polyester and PET Plastic Can be Unsafe, Unjust, and Unsustainable Materials,” Defend’s Senior Communications Director, Taylor Moore, had the opportunity to chat with Nsedu “Nse” Obot Witherspoon, the Executive Director of the Children’s Environmental Health Network (CEHN). 

For the past 23 years, Nse has served as a key spokesperson for children’s vulnerabilities and the need for their protection, conducting presentations and lectures across the country. She is a leader in the field of children’s environmental health, serving on the External Science Board for the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) NIH Research work. She is a Co-Leader the Health/Science initiative of the Cancer Free Economy Network and Co-Chair of the National Environmental Health Partnership Council. Ms. Witherspoon is also the Board Chair for the Pesticide Action Network of North America, Board Member for the Environmental Integrity Project, The Healthy Building Network, and is appointed by the Governor to serve on the Maryland Children’s Environmental Health Advisory Council. 

Given her expertise on children’s environmental health and her recent report “The Racism That Upends the Cradle: Black Children Caught in the Syndemic Crosshairs,” the Defend team reached out to Nse to gain her perspective on the cumulative impacts of climate change and sociopolitical issues at the intersection of environmental health, and how a toxic chemical like antimony that is found in consumer products and in our homes ties into the environmental justice and environmental health issues that children face. 

Listen to the audio below to hear Nse cover the need for primary prevention, putting the onus on point polluters, and the overall harm being placed on children from cumulative exposure and take action today!