SCI/TECH: Biggest Study Ever On Children Is Launched In U.S

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In particular, scientists will try to find out whether there is a link between environment and diseases.

Most studies used now to link environment and disease are retrospective, meaning they rely on a patient's or a parent's recall of events, food eaten, and behaviors. Scientists place much greater faith in studies that look at actual behaviors in real time to more accurately link them to consequences.

"It would meticulously measure their environmental exposures while tracking their health and development, from infancy through childhood, until age 21," he added.

Researchers will also take samples from the children and their parents to see what chemicals they have actually absorbed into their bodies.

"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," the NICHD said in a statement.

Six centers were named on Thursday where the research will begin -- the University of California in Irvine, the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The researchers will look for women who may become pregnant, even those who are not planning to, to see if accidental or unintended exposures or behaviors affect any children they may later have.

"The study might eventually lead to preventions or treatments for many common conditions," Carmona said.



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