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Background Environmental and public health scientists and decision-makers are addressing new and complex environmental challenges that impact human well-being and ecological health. Energy demands have increased, and sources and approaches [...], From climate change to hydraulic fracturing, and from drinking water safety to wildfires, environmental challenges are changing. The United States has made substantial environmental protection progress based on media-specific and single pollutant risk-based frameworks. However, today's environmental problems are increasingly complex and new scientific approaches and tools are needed to achieve sustainable solutions to protect the environment and public health. In this article, we present examples of today's environmental challenges and offer an integrated systems approach to address them. We provide a strategic framework and recommendations for advancing the application of science for protecting the environment and public health. We posit that addressing 21st century challenges requires transdisciplinary and systems approaches, new data sources, and stakeholder partnerships. To address these challenges, we outline a process driven by problem formulation with the following steps: a) formulate the problem holistically, b) gather and synthesize diverse information, c) develop and assess options, and d) implement sustainable solutions. This process will require new skills and education in systems science, with an emphasis on science translation. A systems-based approach can transcend media--and receptor-specific bounds, integrate diverse information, and recognize the inextricable link between ecology and human health.

The Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 recognizes that dermal exposure plays a crucial part in the total well-being of individuals. The law requires the Environmental Protection Agency to consider total exposure, including dermal exposure, to obtaoin a complete human health risk model. Dermal route research, however, have largely focused on dermal dose or the uptake or absorption of a chemical through the skin.

To help address the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996, a physically based probabilistic model has been developed to quantify and analyze dermal and nondietary ingestion exposure and dose to [...]

We review the factors influencing children's exposure to environmental contaminants and the data available to characterize and assess that exposure. Children's activity pattern data requirements are demonstrated in the context [...]