Yet the Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to gut the very program protecting Americans from such disasters, the Risk Management Program. Children are the most vulnerable to chemical disasters. One in three children attend school in chemical disaster vulnerability zones, the highest-risk locations based on chemical toxicity, blast potential, topography and other factors. New Jersey, Texas, California and Illinois each have vulnerability zones that expose over 500,000 children to chemical risks. It requires them to develop plans to prevent and mitigate chemical disasters.