NEWS FLASH: NICHD announces “National Children’s Study”

The U.S. government is about to undertake the largest study ever of the long-term effects of the environment on children’s health.

The National Children’s Study will follow more than 100,000 children from birth to age 21, in counties across the U.S. According to Dr. Duane Alexander, Director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (National Institutes of Health), “It would meticulously measure their environmental exposures while tracking their health and development, from infancy through childhood, until age 21, seeking the root causes of many childhood and adult diseases.”

From the NIH press release dated 9/29/05:

“In the search for environmental influences on human health, and their relationship to genetic constitution, National Children’s Study researchers plan to examine such factors as the food children eat, the air they breathe, their schools and neighborhoods, their frequency of visits to a health care provider, and even the composition of the house dust in their homes. Study scientists also plan to gather biological samples from both parents and children and analyze them for exposure to environmental factors.”