Current studies of adults and children in the Twin Cities are a response to discoveries of industrial contaminants.

Adopting a style of research that has proved controversial in other states, Minnesota health officials are poised to test for arsenic in 100 children and for chemicals formerly made by 3M in 200 adults.

The 2008 studies will be part of a $2 million experiment in biomonitoring, which collects human tissue, hair, blood or urine to look for harmful contaminants.

The purpose is to learn what substances are actually in human bodies, rather than merely in the air, water or soil that pollution control officials typically measure.

"It's obvious to me that we're going to do more and more of this personalized medicine and risk analysis," said John Adgate, associate professor of environmental health science at the University of Minnesota.

"It has great promise but there's a lot of potential bumps in the road."