There's a fascinating article in the Times Science section today about an ambitious project currently underway to examine the effects of environmental influences on the development of 100,000 children across America, following them from before birth until age 21. The study, which is expected to cost about $6.7 billion, relies on mothers to voluntarily offer their "vaginal fluid, toenail clippings, breast milk, placenta and even her baby’s first feces for scientific posterity." Naturally, the government scientists are meeting some resistance as they go door to door searching for volunteers.
One Queens participant, a 30-year-old Colombian-born waitress named Alejandra, was initially wary because "nowadays there are so many scams," but she eventually joined to "help the next generation." (She also needs to help the current generation by getting her husband to stop smoking in the apartment!) But Wanda Johnson, 37, a nursing-home aide with four children, sums up the resistance scientists are encountering: "Twenty-one years, that’s a long time. I may say yes, and then tomorrow, I don’t want to be bothered."
It's called the National Children's Study (The Human Project was taken), and researchers hope the widespread data will help compare the impact of "environmental" factors in different American regions. In Duplin County, N.C., for instance, health workers like Shannon Brewere are worried about the effect of "so many hog lagoons and poop everywhere." And "at the turkey factory, they just can’t step out of line to pump" breast milk. While in Queens, which sees some 30,000 births a year, we've got tons of toxins.
