The health of children is influenced by the environment in which they live, the air they breathe, the water they drink, the food they eat, the homes they live in and the schools that they attend. Pediatricians and parents are becoming more concerned about the impact of the environment on the health of children and want to better understand these issues. Concerns now extend well beyond lead poisoning and encompass issues of mold and mercury, the environments where children go to school and where they live. This two-issue review of the topic of Children's Health and the Environment will bring practitioners up to date on these topics and give them information about how to approach children whose parents are concerned about environmental exposures, how to effectively use the laboratory to assist in the evaluation of these children and how to use the internet to obtain information about environmental contaminants and their impact on children.