Children's agency funds study of men's sex lives

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Originally published 11:40 p.m., May 18, 2003, updated 12:00 a.m., May 19, 2003

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A federal children's health agency is funding a study of the sex habits of old men.

The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) provided more than $137,000 for a three-year study to "provide the most comprehensive picture to date of the sexual behavior of aging men."

New England Research Institutes (NERI) received federal grants of $68,378 in fiscal 2001 and $69,000 in fiscal 2002 "to examine trends in a range of sexual behavior." The study is slated to continue through July.

A House panel wants the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to explain "how this provocative data about aging men's sexual fantasies and activities will benefit hapless children afflicted with pediatric diseases."

In a letter to HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson, a subcommittee of the House Government Reform Committee has asked NICHD how much money the study will get, as well as "a full listing of all grant applications that address children's health and pediatric disorders that were rejected during the period that this grant was funded."

It is not the first time NICHD has been criticized for funding sex research. The agency, a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, previously funded a psychology professor's study that paid women to watch pornographic videos while measuring their arousal.

The Bush administration's continued funding of such research is disappointing, said Robert Knight, director of the Culture and Family Institute at Concerned Women for America.

"Congress appropriates money to help kids, and HHS grabs it to study old men's sex habits," Mr. Knight said. "It's the same old shell game that was going on under Bill Clinton."

He compared the HHS-approved sex studies with a Clinton-era project that said it had documented a genetic basis for homosexuality.

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