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Subject:
From:
"Ellen Penchuk, IBCLC" <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 29 Sep 2005 14:42:42 -0400
Content-Type:
text/plain
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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH 
NIH News 
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) 
http://www.nichd.nih.gov/

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: Thursday, September 29, 2005; 1:00 p.m. ET 

CONTACT: Robert Bock or Marianne Glass Miller, 301-496-5133,
[log in to unmask]

NATIONAL CHILDREN'S STUDY ANNOUNCES CONTRACTS TO FIRST RESEARCH CENTERS 

The National Children's Study -- planned to be the largest study ever
undertaken to assess the effects of the environment on child and adult
health -- took a major step forward today with the announcement that
contracts have been awarded to 6 Vanguard Centers to pilot and complete the
first phases of the Study. 

The full Nationwide Study would follow a representative sample of children
from early life through adulthood, seeking information to prevent and treat
such health problems as autism, birth defects, diabetes, heart disease, and
obesity. 

"The National Children's Study would follow more than 100,000 children, from
before birth -- and, in some cases, even before pregnancy," said Duane
Alexander, M.D., Director of the National Institute of Child Health and
Human Development, one of the 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." 

The announcement was made at a news briefing in Washington, D.C. 

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. 

The planned National Children's Study is led by a consortium of federal
agency partners: the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services (including the
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the National
Institute of Environmental Health Sciences at NIH, and the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention) and the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency. 

Dr. Alexander named the following Institutions as the Vanguard Centers for
the National Children's Study: 

-- University of California, Irvine, for the Study location of Orange
County, California 

-- University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, for the Study location of
Duplin County, North Carolina 

-- Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, for the Study location of
Queens County, New York 

-- Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and Drexel University School of
Public Health, Philadelphia, for the Study location of Montgomery County,
Pennsylvania. 

-- University of Utah, Salt Lake City, for the Study location of Salt Lake
County, Utah. 

-- University of Wisconsin (UW), Madison, and the Medical College of
Wisconsin, for the Study location of Waukesha County, Wisconsin. 

The federal agencies sponsoring the Study are still negotiating to establish
two additional Vanguard Centers that will serve counties in other areas. 

The Vanguard Centers were selected from a pool of applicants through a
competitive process. These centers have successfully demonstrated advanced
clinical research and data collection capabilities, with the ability to
collect and manage biological and environmental specimens; with community
networks for identifying, recruiting, and retaining eligible mothers and
infants; and a commitment to the protection and privacy of data. 

The Vanguard Centers, which include a variety of universities, hospitals,
health departments and other organizations, will work within their
communities to recruit participants, collect and process data, and pilot new
research methods for incorporation into the full study. 

The Study has adequate funding to launch the Vanguard Centers. The federal
agencies leading it hope to award additional Study Centers to work in a
total of 105 sites, subject to the availability of future funding. Future
centers would be selected in a competitive process like the one just
completed for the Vanguard Centers. The timing of a new competitive process
also depends on future funding. 

Dr. Alexander added that a coordinating center, WESTAT in Rockville, MD, has
been awarded the contract to manage information for the planned National
Children's Study, starting with the Vanguard Centers. WESTAT will collect
data, compile and analyze statistics, and ensure that the study proceeds
according to design. 

Dr. Alexander noted that, in many cases, study researchers would recruit
women before they are even pregnant, as well as the women's partners.
Because many pregnancies are unplanned, the researchers will also recruit
women who are not considering pregnancy. 

The study might eventually lead to preventions or treatments for many common
conditions, said Vice Admiral Richard H. Carmona, M.D., M.P.H., FACS, the
United States Surgeon General. 

"We're looking to find the root causes of many common diseases and
disorders," Dr. Carmona said. "When we do, we'll be in a position to prevent
them from ever occurring." 

Dr. Carmona added that the study could also shed light on such indoor
environmental exposures as secondhand smoke, lead, radon, and asbestos. 

"We now know that one in five schools in America has indoor air quality
problems, which affect millions of children who don't even realize it," Dr.
Carmona said. "And that's where The National Children's Study comes in. The
study could help us map how our environments, habits, and activities affect
our children's health." 

Other speakers at the briefing included representatives of the federal
agencies sponsoring the study, as well as representatives of associations
concerned with children's health. 

The planned National Children's Study resulted from a directive by Congress
in 2000 to undertake a national, long-term study of children's health and
their subsequent development in relation to environmental exposures. The
NICHD was directed to lead the effort in conjunction with other federal
agencies. (See: Section 104,
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=106_cong_bills&doc
id=f:h4365enr.txt.) 

The NICHD is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the biomedical
research arm of the federal government. NIH is an agency of the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services. The NICHD sponsors research on
development, before and after birth; maternal, child, and family health;
reproductive biology and population issues; and medical rehabilitation.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) -- "The Nation's Medical Research
Agency" -- includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.
S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary Federal agency
for conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical
research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both
common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs,
visit http://www.nih.gov.

Perhaps an influx of e-mails to Mr. Bock reminding him of the importance of 
human milk would be helpful. It would be nice to see 'exclusively and 
extensively' breastfed babies included in this study. 

Ellen Penchuk, IBCLC, RLC

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