HealthandDiets.com - Study Will Examine Genes, Environment To Identify Health Risks To Children

KEYWORDS: health risks to children environmental influences on the health of children physical health mental health emotional health developmental health research studies

AUTHOR: Rob Stein, Washington Post Staff Writer

The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Environmental Protection Agency are working together to launch one of the most ambitious biomedical projects in history -- a massive study to identify the biggest threats to children's health called the National Children's Study.

The study would examine a vast array of factors that may affect physical, mental, emotional and developmental health by following more than 100,000 children across the country from before birth until age 21. It will also try to answer such questions as: Does watching television affect behavior? Do vaccines cause autism? How does spanking affect development and emotional health? Is day care harmful or helpful?

Several federal agencies have teamed up to launch one of the most ambitious biomedical projects in history -- a massive study to identify the biggest threats to children's health.

The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Environmental Protection Agency are working together to plan the project, the National Children's Study.

The study would examine a vast array of factors that may affect physical, mental, emotional and developmental health by following more than 100,000 children across the country from before birth until age 21.

"Most people think of this as 'big science,' " said Peter C. Scheidt, director of the program office of the National Children's Study at the NICHD, which is coordinating the effort. "It's very ambitious. Nothing like this has been attempted before."

The entire project would require an estimated $2.7 billion over 25 years. Congress so far has authorized $18 million to cover some of the start-up costs. As part of the effort to win congressional support for further funding, the project and its supporters are holding a briefing on Capitol Hill tomorrow.

The project has won support from groups including scientists, public health experts, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the March of Dimes and even the American Chemistry Council, which represents the chemical industry.

"We think it's going to create better data that will help make some better decisions," said Lee Salamone, a director of the chemistry group's public health team. "I think it will be another data point that will show that chemicals found at low levels in the environment are not the biggest risk in this country to children's health. I think it will help everyone who is concerned focus their attention better."

The study, which planners hope to begin in 2006, would start by gathering data on 100,000 women early in their pregnancies at 35 to 40 centers around the country. Researchers would collect detailed information throughout the women's pregnancies on a range of factors, including their diets, chemical exposures, health and any emotional stress.

"One of the areas that's gotten lot of attention is pesticide exposure during pregnancy and whether that has cognitive and developmental affects," Scheidt said.

Once the children are born, researchers will continue to gather information about them as they grow by conducting interviews with their parents; periodic physical, emotional and developmental examinations of the children; and periodic environmental sampling of their homes.

The researchers will, for example, gather extensive information about issues such as how much and what type of television they watch, what type of discipline and child care they receive, what kinds of chemicals they are exposed to, what vaccines they receive, what infections they get, and what their diets include.

"It's massive amounts of data. . . .," Scheidt said. "The exciting thing about this is the multiple measures that are being collected on different classes of exposures and how they react with each other."

Researchers will also gather genetic information to try to determine what inborn factors influence health, emotional well-being and behavioral development.

The study will try to answer such questions as: Does watching television affect behavior? Do vaccines cause autism? How does spanking affect development and emotional health? Is day care harmful or helpful?

"These are really important questions that we think our society ought to be answering," Scheidt said.

Some, however, have questioned whether the money could be used better in other ways.

The FAIR Foundation, an NIH watchdog group, believes the money "would be better spent in finding cures for existing diseases," said Richard Darling, the group's president. "Such diseases are receiving disproportionately low NIH research funding."

But Leonardo Trasande, assistant director of the Center for Children's Health and the Environment at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, who is helping plan the study, defended the price tag.

"This study is a relatively small cost, compared with the actual cost of environmental disease in children, and would make significant and unique contributions to understanding how the behavioral environment, the social environment and other environmental factors in early life may predispose certain individuals to certain conditions," he said. "Once completed, it will be the richest information source for child health policy for generations to come."