Post by christie on Apr 28, 2005 19:16:39 GMT -5
pass it on, for what its worth...
With support from members of the DD Network: The Arc of the United States,The Association of University Centers on Disability (AUCD),The Developmental Disabilities Research
Centers Associations,The National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities (NACDD) and The National Association of Private Special Education Centers (NAPSEC).
WHEN
Tuesday, May 10th from 10:00
a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
WHERE
Dirksen Building Room 406
(The Environment and Public
Works Committee Hearing
Room)
TESTIMONY
Bruce Lanphear, MD, MPH - U. of Cincinnati
Children's Environmental Health Center - The
connection between chemical exposure and developmental
disabilities
Joe Meadours, Self-Advocate - Alabama Mental
Health and Mental Retardation Dept. - Why the DD
community is concerned with chemical exposures
Laura Hewitson, PhD - University of Pittsburgh
Autism rates and personal experience as a mother of
an autistic child
Leonardo Trasande, MD, MPP - Mt. Sinai School of
Medicine - The need for the National Children's Study
Lynn Goldman, MD, MPH - Johns Hopkins University
The need for a new chemicals policy
THE CONCERN
It is estimated that one in six children under the age
of 18 have some form of a learning or developmental
disability.
The National Academy of Sciences estimates that 25%
of developmental disabilities are due to gene-environment
interactions.
Autism and ADHD rates are rising and environmental
causes are implicated.
The National Children's Study is our nation's best
chance to find answers as to how environmental factors
are affecting our children's health.
Our nation needs a revised chemical policy that serves
to protect the health of pregnant women, children and
other vulnerable populations.
U.S. to Launch Massive Study Into Children’s Health
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), through the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), have embarked on the largest and most comprehensive study of children’s health and development ever conducted in the United States.
The National Children’s Study will involve 100,000 children over 21 years, from before birth to age 21, to better understand the link between the environments in which children are raised and their physical and mental health and development. It will draw on information gathered from children in 75 metropolitan locations and 26 rural locations. Each location will have a goal of enrolling at least 250 newborns per year for four or five years.
The 101 locations for the Study were selected using a probability-based method that helps ensure that children across the nation are fairly represented, both geographically and demographically. By choosing families from varied backgrounds and family structures, the Study will be able to investigate issues of interest to communities accurately.
The Study defines “environment” broadly to include physical surroundings; biological and chemical factors; geography; and social, educational, behavioral, family, and cultural influences. The results of the Study will provide researchers, public health officials, health care providers, educators, and others who work with children with a resource for data from which to develop prevention strategies, health and safety guidelines, educational approaches, and possibly new treatments and cures for medical conditions.
Eight potential areas have been selected for the first stage of the Study’s implementation. These are called “Vanguard Locations” and they are: Duplin County, NC; Lincoln, Pipestone, and Yellow Medicine Counties, MN, and Brookings County, SD; Montgomery County, PA; New York City (Queens), NY; Orange County, CA; Orange County, FL; Salt Lake County, UT; and Waukesha County, WI.
Initially, participants will be drawn from three groups: pregnant women and their partners; couples planning pregnancy; and women who are of childbearing age but not planning a pregnancy. In the past, other studies have investigated prenatal environmental exposures within the first trimester of pregnancy through the time of birth, but the National Children’s Study is the first to capture exposures prior to and early in pregnancy, and then to track participants for more than 20 years.
The Study plan focuses on several priority health themes: pregnancy-related outcomes; injury; asthma; obesity, diabetes, and physical development; and child development and mental health, among others. To collect data on these various issues, families who are enrolled will participate in a minimum of 15 in-person visits with a local research team beginning from the first trimester of pregnancy or earlier through 21 years of age. These visits will take place in the families’ home and in clinical settings.
Data will also be collected from schools and anywhere the child spends at least 30 hours a week. In addition, surveys will be administered every three months until the age of five and annually thereafter. Over time, biological samples will be taken from the mother, father, and child, and air, water, soil, and dust samples will be taken from the child’s environment. Findings will be available two to three years after the launch of the Study, which will begin in some of the Vanguard locations in 2007.
With support from members of the DD Network: The Arc of the United States,The Association of University Centers on Disability (AUCD),The Developmental Disabilities Research
Centers Associations,The National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities (NACDD) and The National Association of Private Special Education Centers (NAPSEC).
WHEN
Tuesday, May 10th from 10:00
a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
WHERE
Dirksen Building Room 406
(The Environment and Public
Works Committee Hearing
Room)
TESTIMONY
Bruce Lanphear, MD, MPH - U. of Cincinnati
Children's Environmental Health Center - The
connection between chemical exposure and developmental
disabilities
Joe Meadours, Self-Advocate - Alabama Mental
Health and Mental Retardation Dept. - Why the DD
community is concerned with chemical exposures
Laura Hewitson, PhD - University of Pittsburgh
Autism rates and personal experience as a mother of
an autistic child
Leonardo Trasande, MD, MPP - Mt. Sinai School of
Medicine - The need for the National Children's Study
Lynn Goldman, MD, MPH - Johns Hopkins University
The need for a new chemicals policy
THE CONCERN
It is estimated that one in six children under the age
of 18 have some form of a learning or developmental
disability.
The National Academy of Sciences estimates that 25%
of developmental disabilities are due to gene-environment
interactions.
Autism and ADHD rates are rising and environmental
causes are implicated.
The National Children's Study is our nation's best
chance to find answers as to how environmental factors
are affecting our children's health.
Our nation needs a revised chemical policy that serves
to protect the health of pregnant women, children and
other vulnerable populations.
U.S. to Launch Massive Study Into Children’s Health
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), through the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), have embarked on the largest and most comprehensive study of children’s health and development ever conducted in the United States.
The National Children’s Study will involve 100,000 children over 21 years, from before birth to age 21, to better understand the link between the environments in which children are raised and their physical and mental health and development. It will draw on information gathered from children in 75 metropolitan locations and 26 rural locations. Each location will have a goal of enrolling at least 250 newborns per year for four or five years.
The 101 locations for the Study were selected using a probability-based method that helps ensure that children across the nation are fairly represented, both geographically and demographically. By choosing families from varied backgrounds and family structures, the Study will be able to investigate issues of interest to communities accurately.
The Study defines “environment” broadly to include physical surroundings; biological and chemical factors; geography; and social, educational, behavioral, family, and cultural influences. The results of the Study will provide researchers, public health officials, health care providers, educators, and others who work with children with a resource for data from which to develop prevention strategies, health and safety guidelines, educational approaches, and possibly new treatments and cures for medical conditions.
Eight potential areas have been selected for the first stage of the Study’s implementation. These are called “Vanguard Locations” and they are: Duplin County, NC; Lincoln, Pipestone, and Yellow Medicine Counties, MN, and Brookings County, SD; Montgomery County, PA; New York City (Queens), NY; Orange County, CA; Orange County, FL; Salt Lake County, UT; and Waukesha County, WI.
Initially, participants will be drawn from three groups: pregnant women and their partners; couples planning pregnancy; and women who are of childbearing age but not planning a pregnancy. In the past, other studies have investigated prenatal environmental exposures within the first trimester of pregnancy through the time of birth, but the National Children’s Study is the first to capture exposures prior to and early in pregnancy, and then to track participants for more than 20 years.
The Study plan focuses on several priority health themes: pregnancy-related outcomes; injury; asthma; obesity, diabetes, and physical development; and child development and mental health, among others. To collect data on these various issues, families who are enrolled will participate in a minimum of 15 in-person visits with a local research team beginning from the first trimester of pregnancy or earlier through 21 years of age. These visits will take place in the families’ home and in clinical settings.
Data will also be collected from schools and anywhere the child spends at least 30 hours a week. In addition, surveys will be administered every three months until the age of five and annually thereafter. Over time, biological samples will be taken from the mother, father, and child, and air, water, soil, and dust samples will be taken from the child’s environment. Findings will be available two to three years after the launch of the Study, which will begin in some of the Vanguard locations in 2007.