CHILDREN’S STUDY FACES TOUGH YEAR

THE NEXT YEAR will be critical for the National Children’s Study (NCS). Still in its pilot phase after a decade of planning, the ambitious project is facing low enrollment numbers and questions about its environmental testing methods. Mandated by Congress under the Children’s Health Act of 2000, the study plans to follow 100,000 children from before birth to age 21. It will examine relationships between the environment, genetics, development, and health, with the goal of shedding light on associations between environmental exposures and disorders such as asthma, autism, diabetes, and obesity. The study is funded on an annual basis and thus needs continued support to survive. New leadership has energized the project, but some observers say it is in trouble. Congress directed the National Institutes of Health and other federal agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention and the Environmental Protection Agency, to plan, develop, and implement the study, but it provided ...