EU research project to assess antibacterial products’ impact on child natural immunity
Concerns that antibacterial cleaning products are weakening the natural immunity of children against diseases will be assessed by a €6m research project involving 7,000 children in Finland, Estonia and north-western Russia’s Karelia.
Concerns that antibacterial cleaning products are weakening the natural immunity of children against diseases will be assessed by a €6m research project involving 7,000 children in Finland, Estonia and north-western Russia’s Karelia.
All three test areas have similar ethnic backgrounds, but widely differing standards of living and domestic cleanliness.
The DIABIMMUNE study will follow more than 300 children from birth to three years old, and 2,000 from three to five years old to see whether their immune systems have been weakened by low bacteria exposure. Project coordinator Professor Mikael Knip of the University of Helsinki said the study would yield information on “the interaction between the immune system and the environment”.