Last modified: Tuesday, October 14, 2008 2:39 AM EDT Study holds hope for healthier future E Asthma is the third ranking cause of non-injury hospitalization for children younger than 15. E Elevated blood lead levels in children are due mostly to ingestion of contaminated dust, paint and soil. E Causes of childhood cancer are poorly understood, though different forms of cancer have different causes. Parental and childhood exposure to pesticides and radiation may cause certain cancers in children. E 3-8 percent of the babies born each year will be affected by developmental disorders such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder or mental retardation. These facts are provided by the Environmental Protection Agency. But for thousands of parents in this area, they're far more than that. They are a reality of home life marked by special care and extensive precautions, and punctuated by emergency runs to the hospital. What if it could be different for our children? More than a morsel of hope is extended by announcement that Sturdy Memorial Hospital is among those selected to participate in an historic study of environmental factors on health. The hospital, as reported last week, will be part of the National Children's Study, aimed at following 100,000 children from birth through age 21. Some local families will participate, the public will learn more about environmental factors at work right here at home and the world will benefit from the data accumulated. The newly announced grant will allow researchers to add 1,000 families from Bristol County, along with a previously funded study of 1,000 families from Providence County, R.I., whose children will be studied for the next 21 years. The outcomes could well lead to new kinds of prevention of illness that costs families and society plenty in financial and emotional ways. Consider the impact of asthma, as reported by the EPA: E In 2002, children 5-17 years old missed 14.7 million school days due to asthma. E The direct and indirect costs of asthma to the U.S. economy were $19.7 billion in 2007. E Some $14.7 billion are directly associated with the medical care costs of asthma and $5 billion are associated with lost productivity. E Asthmatic patients and their families pay a higher portion of their medical care costs than patients with other diseases due to heavy reliance on prescription medication combined with lower insurance coverage for prescription drugs. A research team, as we've reported, will follow children's lives beginning in the first trimester of pregnancy, partly through home visits and partly in clinical settings. Biological samples from the mother, father and child, as well as air, water, soil and dust from the child's environment will be collected. Locally, investigators will interview a random sample of more than 10,000 households each in Providence and Bristol counties. Recruitment is scheduled to begin in 2010. You can bet that this newspaper will follow closely the developments emerging from this study which will assuredly make life-changing improvements in the lives of children one or two generations from now.