Children Exposed to Pesticides  

Have a  Seven-Fold Increased Risk of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma

Cancer v.89, i11, 6dec00

Parents: Throw out the Pesticides and Cancel the Exterminator !

[Abstract below]

Children who are exposed to insecticides in the home are significantly more likely to get a type of cancer called non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and the risk is increased according to how often the exposure occurred.

Researchers compared the pesticide exposures of 268 children who developed this type of cancer against the exposures in healthy children. Investigators assessed the children's and their parents' exposure to pesticides in the home a month before pregnancy, during pregnancy, or while breastfeeding.

According to Dr. Jonathan D. Buckley of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and colleagues: Children whose mothers used pesticides in the home once or twice a week were nearly 2.5 times as likely to have non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Children whose mothers used pesticides on a more daily basis were 7 times more likely to have the cancer.

Pregnant women exposed to pesticides by professional exterminators in their homes were three times more likely to have a child with the cancer.

Children directly exposed to pesticides by professional exterminators were more than twice as likely to develop the disease.

---

Pesticide Exposures in Children with non-Hodgkin Lymphoma

Cancer v.89, i11, 6dec00

Jonathan D. Buckley, M.B.B.S., Ph.D. ^{1 *}, Anna T. Meadows, M.D. ², Marshall E. Kadin, M.D. ³, Michelle M. Le Beau, Ph.D. ⁴, Stuart Siegel, M.D. ⁵, Leslie L. Robison, Ph.D. ⁶

¹Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
²Division of Oncology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
³Department of Pathology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
⁴Section of Hematology/Oncology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
⁵Division of Hematology-Oncology, Department of Pediatrics, Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
⁶Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
 

email: Jonathan D. Buckley (jbuckley@hsc.usc.edu)

^*Correspondence to Jonathan D. Buckley, Children's Cancer Group, P.O. Box 60012, Arcadia, CA 91066-6012

The following are principal Children's Cancer Group participants (with their National Cancer Institute grants in parentheses) W. Archie Bleyer, M.D., Anita Khayat, Ph.D., Harland Sather, Ph.D., Mark Krailo, Ph.D., Jonathan Buckley, M.B.B.S., Ph.D., Daniel Stram, Ph.D., and Richard Sposto, Ph.D., Group Operations Center, Arcadia, CA (CA 13539); Raymond Hutchinson, M.D., University of Michigan Medical Center, Ann Arbor, MI (CA 02971); Katherine Matthay, M.D., University of California Medical Center, San Francisco, CA (CA 17829); Diane Puccetti, M.D., University of Wisconsin Hospital, Madison, WI (CA 05436); J. Russell Geyer, M.D., Children's Hospital and Medical Center, Seattle, WA (CA 10382); Eric Kodish, M.D., Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital, Cleveland, OH (CA 20320); Gregory Reaman, M.D., Children's National Medical Center, Washington, DC (CA 03888); Paul Gaynon, M.D., Children's Hospital of Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA (CA 02649); Frederick Ruymann, M.D., Children's Hospital of Columbus, OH (CA 03750); Linda Granowetter, M.D., Columbia Presbyterian College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY (CA 03526); James Whitlock, M.D., Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville TN (CA 26270); H. Stacy Nicholson, M.D., Doernbecher Memorial Hospital for Children, Portland, OR (CA 26044); Joseph Neglia, M.D., University of Minnesota Health Sciences Center, Minneapolis, MN (CA 07306); Beverly Lange, M.D., Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA (CA 11796); Peter Steinherz, M.D., Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY (CA 42764); Robert Fallon, M.D., James Whitcomb Riley Hospital for Children, Indianapolis, IN (CA 13809); Paul Rogers, M.D., University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (CA 29013); Robert Wells, M.D., Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH (CA 26126); Jerry Finklestein, M.D., Harbor/UCLA and Miller Children's Medical Center, Torrance/Long Beach, CA (CA 14560); Stephen Feig, M.D., University of California Medical Center (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA (CA 27678); Raymond Tannous, M.D., University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, IA (CA 29314); Carola Arndt, M.D., Mayo Clinic and Foundation, Rochester, MN (CA 28882); Dorothy Barnard, M.D., Izaak Walton Killam Hospital for Children, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada; Stuart Gold, M.D., University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC; Richard Drachtman, M.D., University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Camden, NJ; Peter Coccia, M.D., University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE; James Nachman, M.D., Wyler Children's Hospital, Chicago, IL; Beverly Raney, M.D., M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX; Aaron Rausen, M.D., New York University Medical Center, New York, NY; Violet Shen, M.D., Children's Hospital of Orange County, Orange CA.
Fax (626) 445-4334

Funded by:
 National Cancer Institute; Grant Number: R01 CA38908
 NIEHS; Grant Number: ES07048

Keywords: non-Hodgkin lymphoma; childhood; case-control; pesticides

Abstract

BACKGROUND

The association between pesticide exposure and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) in adults has been the subject of numerous case-control and cohort studies. However, to the authors' knowledge, data regarding pesticide exposures in children diagnosed with NHL have been lacking.

METHODS

The Children's Cancer Group conducted a study comparing 268 children who developed NHL or leukemia with bulk disease with a group of matched, randomly selected regional population controls. The telephone interviews of both the case and control mothers included selected questions regarding occupational and home exposures to pesticides around the time of the index pregnancy and exposure of the child.

RESULTS

A significant association was found between risk of NHL and increased frequency of reported pesticide use in the home (odds ratio [OR] = 7.3 for use most days; trend P = 0.05), professional exterminations within the home (OR = 3.0; P = 0.002), and postnatal exposure (OR = 2.4; P = 0.001). Elevated risks were found for T-cell and B-cell lymphomas; for lymphoblastic, large cell, and Burkitt morphologies; and in both young (age < 6 years) and older children. There was an increased risk of NHL with occupational exposure to pesticides (OR = 1.7) that was not significant overall, but that was significant for Burkitt lymphoma (OR = 9.6; P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

The results of the current study provide further evidence linking pesticide exposure to the risk of NHL, but the authors were unable to implicate any specific agent. Cancer 2000;89:2315-21. � 2000 American Cancer Society.

Received: 10 January 2000; Revised: 17 August 2000; Accepted: 17 August 2000

source: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/76501796/START 01feb01