Seven-Fold Increased Cancer Risk Found

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.
  

Cancer, December 1, 2000