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Matthew P. Longnecker,¹ David C. Bellinger,² David Crews,³ Brenda Eskenazi,⁴ Ellen K. Silbergeld,⁵ Tracey J. Woodruff,⁶ and Ezra S. Susser⁷

¹Epidemiology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA; ²Children's Hospital Boston/Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA; ³University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA; ⁴Center for Children's Environmental Health Research, University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health, Berkeley, California, USA; ⁵Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA; ⁶U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, San Francisco, California, USA; ⁷Division of Epidemiology, Joseph L. Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA

Abstract
In this article we consider the importance of assessing endocrine disruption in a large new cohort that has been proposed, the National Children's Study (NCS) . We briefly review evidence that endocrine disruption is a potentially important hypothesis for human studies and weigh the need to assess endocrine disruption in the NCS. We note the salient features of earlier, similar cohort studies that serve as reference points for the design of the NCS. Finally, we discuss features of the NCS that would allow or enhance assessment of endocrine disruption, even if endocrine disruption were not a primary hypothesis motivating the study. At this time, the evidence supporting endocrine disruption in humans with background-level exposures is not strong. Thus, a compelling rationale for the NCS will probably need to be based on core hypotheses that focus on other issues. Nonetheless, if properly designed, the NCS could serve as an excellent resource for investigating future hypotheses regarding endocrine disruption. Key words: chemical actions, child, cohort studies, endocrine disruption, environment, epidemiology, health. Environ Health Perspect 111:1691-1697 (2003) . doi:10.1289/ehp.5800 available via http://dx.doi.org/ [Online 18 March 2003]