Ministry Starts Research on Children's Health and Surrounding Risks

Japan's Ministry of the Environment launched a nationwide research project on children's health and their surrounding environments in fiscal year 2010. The purpose of the research is to assess the formative influence on children when they are exposed to chemical substances during their fetal and infant periods, and to provide children of the next generation with a healthy living environment.

Amid recent anxieties about growing environmental risks to children, their vulnerability to chemical substances in their living environment has become a major concern.

This is an epidemiological study to be conducted continuously on new-born babies until the age of 13 years, in cooperation with 100,000 pairs of parents and children -- including babies, mothers, expectant mothers, and fathers -- across Japan. The ministry will start inviting applicants and registering participants from January 2011.

Along with the start of recruitment of applicants to the study, the ministry held a kick-off event at the minister's office on November 15, 2010, to give letters of request for cooperating medical institutions, and to inaugurate the recruitment of research supporters that agree with the project's aims.

Posted: 2011/02/12 06:00:15 AM