Last September, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
announced seven sites where the study would start, including Queens in
New York. Recently, though, the Bush administration proposed to halt the
study as part of budget cuts. The cost for a national introduction in
2007 was projected to be $69 million.
A cost-benefit analysis was performed as part of the study's preparation,
said Dr. Peter Scheidt, director of the study. "The childhood illnesses
and conditions that this study addresses are so burdensome and costly
to the nation," he said, "that any measurable impact the study
has, even on one of the major conditions for one year, would pay for the
cost of the study."
Parents, meanwhile, will have to make up their own minds. "It's
not cheaper; it's not more convenient," Ms. Lilley said, "but
if there's even a chance it reduces our kids' health risks, we buy it."