Maine Medical Center will participate in a two-decade, national study of the environmental influences on children's health and development, officials at the Portland hospital announced today.

MMC is one of 40 participants in the National Children's Study, which will follow more than 100,000 children across the nation from birth to age 21.

It will be the largest, long-term children's health study in the United States to date, hospital officials said.

Study sponsors are the Eunice Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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