A MAJOR study of child development begins in Britain this week - not with newborn infants but with their expectant mothers. The study, entitled Children of the Nineties, will study 11 000 infants to be born next year and in subsequent years until at least 1998. It is the first long-term project to take pregnancy into account in the health of the child.
The study aims to measure the relative importance of a wide range of genetic and environmental factors on child health and behaviour. The organisers of the study say that teams in six other countries - Belgium, Sweden, the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Greece and Spain - are planning to collaborate. Money for the British project is coming partly from the government and partly from charities, including the Wellcome Trust and the Asthma Research Council.
It is not the purpose of the study to screen individuals for genetic diseases, ...
To continue reading this article, subscribe to receive access to all of newscientist.com, including 20 years of archive content.