Autism, asthma, birth defects, childhood disorders; all scary and all are on the rise. Thing is, there doesn’t seem to be a clear cut answer to why these maladies are affecting more and more babies and kids each and every year. The biggest suspect? The environment. Scientists are going to try their darndest to find some answers to this mystery and prove or disprove this assumption and are about to launch the largest study on children of the United States ever. They have begun signing up mothers-to-be in North Carolina and New York to participate and are looking for women who are newly pregnant or are planning on becoming pregnant soon. In the spring, they’ll be looking for recruits in California, Pennsylvania, Utah, South Dakota and Minnesota with a total of about 100,000 participants.
The scientists will study the newborns from birth (or conception) until they turn twenty-one. The moms-to-be will be required to give various samples of their blood, hair, urine, drinking water, and house dust and will have to participate in various interviews. After the baby is born, the child’s house will be environmentally examined and the baby’s health will be carefully tracked.
This lofty study has been in the works for about a decade and is now just coming to fruition. They’re hoping to have the first set of results in 2012 with data on birth defects and premature births and data on early childhood issues/disorders within five years.
Here’s hoping some answers are found. It’s a shame it’s taken ten years to make this happen, we probably would have had some clues sooner than later. But with the funds necessary and the complexity of such a big study, it doesn’t come as a surprise it did take a decade to happen.
Do you blame the environment?
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