US to Start $3.2Billion Child Health Study in January

A study that willcost$3.2 billion and last more than two decades to track the health of 100,000US children from before birth to age 21 will be launched in January,US health

officials said onFriday.

Officials from the US government's National Institutes of Healthsaid they hope the study,to be conducted at 105 locations throughout the United States,canhelp identify

early-lifeinfluences that affect later development,with the goal of learning new ways totreat or prevent illness.

The study willexamine hereditary（遗传的）andenvironmental factors such as exposure to certain chemicals that affect health.

Researchers willcollect genetic and biological samples from people in the study as well assamples from the homes of the women and their babies including air,water,dust

and materials usedto construct their residences,the NIH said.

Officials said morethan $200 million has been spent already and the study is projected to cost$3.2billion.

"We anticipatethat in the long term（从长远来说）,what we learn from the study will result in a significant savingsin the nation's health care costs,"Dr. Duane

Alexander,who headsthe NIH's Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and HumanDevelopment,told reporters.

The study will beginin January when the University of North Carolina and the Mount Sinai School ofMedicine in New York start signing up（签订协议）pregnant women

whose babies willthen be followed to age 2

Some of the earlyfindings will be about factors behind pre-term birth（早产）,which has become more common inrecent years,according to Dr. Peter Scheidt of the

NIH,who heads thestudy.

The people takingpart will be from rural,urban and suburban areas,from all income andeducational levels and from all racial groups,the NIH said.The babies of theparticipants will be followed______.

A.throughout theirlives

B.for more than twodecades

C.from birth to 21months

D.until they getmarried