FINAL REPORT: Validation of Test Methods for Assessing Neurodevelopment in Children¹

Historical Reference
This website is provided by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) ONLY as an historical reference for the public health community. It is no longer being maintained and the data it contains may no longer be current and/or accurate.

Specific Aims

This investigation proposed to determine the sensitivity and specificity of a battery of neurodevelopmental tests in detecting the anticipated subtle effects of exposure to low dosages of developmental neurotoxicants. The study was designed to answer the question: What is the capacity of selected tests and tasks to detect a subtle effect of prenatal or postnatal environmental exposures on children’s specific behaviors and skills during neurodevelopment?

The current project was funded under a public-private partnership organized by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Funding partners included the ATSDR, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). Philip W. Davidson served as principal investigator. The study was supported in part by a General Clinical; Research Center (GCRC) Grant 5 M01 RR00044 from the National Center for Research Resources, NIH. The pilot study was funded by two grants, one to Bernard Weiss from EPRI, and the other from the University of Maryland’s Joint Institute on Food Safety and Nutrition (JIFSAN) to Philip Davidson. The JIFSAN is a joint venture of the University of Maryland and the US Food and Drug Administration. The grant to Dr. Davidson was funded under a cooperative agreement mechanism. The University of Maryland received funds for the project from the FDA, EPRI, ATSDR, and the NIEHS.

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