Factors influencing developmental control

An important complication that is specific to human developmental toxicity studies is the necessity to control for confounding factors that influence human development, such as parental intelligence, quality of home environment, nutritional factors and socioeconomic status (Bellinger et al., 1992 Bellinger, 1995). These may influence the outcomes from the newborn period to adulthood. In addition, assessment methods must take into consideration the time (days, months or years) that may intervene between exposure/insult and the expression of toxicity at a much later age. 

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