Long-term asthma study casts net
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The world's longest running study into respiratory health wants to track down 21,000 siblings of the original participants to see if they have developed asthma.
The Tasmanian Longitudinal Health Study began nearly 40 years ago by surveying 8,500 Tasmanian school children.
Professor Haydn Walters from the Menzies Research Institute in Tasmania says that already researchers have been able to locate 70 per cent of brothers and sisters.
"We can, also by having the brothers and sisters, dissect the influences on respiratory health and particularly on asthma on family influences and genetic infludences as oposed to environmental influences," Prof Walters said.
