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Utah Department of
Environmental Quality
Data already collected by Department of Environmental Quality scientists could provide the foundation for the Utah component of a landmark National Children’s Study that will track the impacts of genetics and environmental influences on more than 100,000 children across the United States from before birth until age 21.
“We don’t want to re-invent the wheel,” said Jim Quackenboss of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Exposure Research Laboratory, who is one of the principal investigators in the National Children’s Study. “We want to complement what has been done and build on that. We hope to use the DEQ information to fill in those gaps. The strength of the study will come from collecting the information that has already been recorded.”
There’s no certainty the study will continue. President Bush did not include the $70 million requested to keep the study going in his budget, even though $50 million has already been spent on the study. But advocates are optimistic Congress will restore funding for the study that has been in the works since 2000, when Congress authorized the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and a consortium of federal agencies to conduct the research.
Dianne Nielson, executive director of DEQ, sponsored a resolution that was approved by the Environment Council of States, urging the funding be included in the FY07 budget, saying the study could provide answers to health problems affecting many children today. To view the resolution, go to: http://www.childrenshealth.utah.gov/childrens_study.htm.
“We are pleased this work is proceeding with the budget that exists,” said Nielson. “Funding to continue the work is essential. If we are to improve the quality of a child’s environment we need more information.”
The importance of the study is emphasized in the resolution: “The outcome of these efforts will provide the most complete data to date on the effects of early life exposures to multiple environmental factors, and will be key to understanding the toxicity of a number of environmental agents, life stages of susceptibility, and genetic factors that contribute to susceptibility. The National Children’s Study will be one of the richest information resources available for answering questions related to children’s health and development, and it will form the basis of child health guidance, interventions and policy for generations to come.”
In September 2005, the University of Utah was awarded a $16 million contract as one of the six initial Vanguard Centers. Dr. Ed Clark, chairman of the University of Utah’s School of Medicine Department of Pediatrics and medical director of Primary Children’s Hospital, is serving as the principal investigator of the University of Utah study, where the enrollment of 1,250 women in Utah is expected to begin next year. “We are in a very amorphous stage,” Clark said. “But our community is better linked than some of the other vanguard sites. It’s possible a year from now we could have some very preliminary results.”
Utah’s advantage has partly to do with the existence of the wealth of information state agencies have collected over the decades. For instance, the Division of Drinking Water has tested public water systems for such contaminants as arsenic. The Division of Air Quality has measured ozone and particulate matter from the various monitoring stations around the state. The Division of Environmental Response and Remediation has extensive data on file from cleanup projects like the one in Eureka where high levels of lead have been found in the soils.
DEQ and other state agencies are committed to offer assistance by providing the information to researchers and continuing to collect the data that could help answer questions, such as the concentrations and impacts pesticides have in the environment.
“We are committed to working with state agencies to collect this data and we are committed to sharing the results as well,” said Clark.
Today’s Children at Risk
“We are facing an epidemic of childhood diseases like obesity, diabetes, asthma and autism,” noted Clark. “Kids now in school are going to be less healthy than their parents. This will have a dramatic effect in our country.”
Physicians have suspected there are links between these diseases and environmental and genetic factors, but they don’t have the data to back it up. “It is unclear to us what happens to humans after long periods of low-dose exposures to chemicals, pesticides and herbicides,” said Clark. “We are very interested in why there is a 10-to-12 fold increase in asthma. Is it genetics and early exposures? We know that children who were born and raised on a ranch or have dogs and cats are less likely to have asthma. Is it because exposures early in life are less likely to become problematic later in life?”
Researchers also will be studying the participants’ physical environments to determine whether there are any links between environment and health. “How do housing quality and neighborhood community conditions affect a child’s health and development? What about household mold exposure? How does school environment trigger asthma symptoms?” questions Clark. The study doesn’t stop there. Researchers will also analyze the psychosocial environment. “For instance, chronic exposure to urban violence could exacerbate asthma if it causes high levels of stress. And what factors are associated with an increased risk of schizophrenia?” Clark adds.
Environmental Monitoring
The study is designed to follow the participants from before birth until they reach age 21. It will track environmental factors including food, water and air and the chemicals they contain to see if, or how, such factors affect the children’s health.
Under the direction of Dr. Rod Larson of the Rocky Mountain Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, about 35 different agents will be measured. These agents include various metals, organics, pesticides, bacteria and mold. Samples will be obtained in the residences of participating women prior to conception, during pregnancy, and after the birth of the child. Additional environmental monitoring will be conducted in the home, workplace and day care center.
“We are using the bare minimum of what we have to do to form the framework of the study,” Larson said. In efforts to get to the “true” exposure, some participants will be wearing monitoring devices to track their exposures to various environments. Researchers will also use a combination of questionnaires, diaries and even food samples to analyze what the participants are eating. And researchers will be monitoring the indoor and outdoor pollution to determine what impact that has on the participant health.
Findings will be made public in various stages of development, Larson said. “We will look at both the adverse and beneficial aspects.”
Researchers are hoping for widespread participation that will recruit Utah women of childbearing age from a variety of backgrounds and ethnicities. “There’s something fundamentally bold and groundbreaking about this study,” said Clark. “We could never pay these families enough. What we can hope to do is reward them in some small way for volunteering.”