Pesticides Tied to NHL in
Children ------------------------------------------------------------------ LOS
ANGELES-The link between pesticide exposure and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma has
been extended to children.
But it wasn’t clear from a study of 268
children and matched controls by the Children’s Cancer Group whether pre- or
postnatal exposure to pesticides is more important. And no specific
pesticide could be implicated. Previous case-control studies have tied
pesticides to adult NHL.
In the telephone-interview
study, reported in the Dec. 1 Cancer, mothers who recalled using household
insecticides regularly (on most days) while pregnant were 7.3 times more
likely to have a child develop NHL than mothers who did not use these
products.
Even moderate use of these agents (once or twice
a week) while pregnant nearly tripled the risk of disease for children
(2.62), as did the use of professional home extermination at all during
pregnancy (2.98), reported Dr. Jonathan D. Buckley of the University of
Southern California and colleagues.
Additionally, direct
postnatal exposure to pesticides increased a child’s risk of NHL by 2.4
times when compared with children not exposed. Use of garden insecticides
was positively related with NHL risk, but was not
significant.
The link was found in patients with B-cell and
T-cell, lymphoblastic, large-cell, and Burkitt’s lymphomas, though risk
varied by type of NHL and method of exposure. Household exposure of
pesticides had the greatest effect on lymphoblastic NHL, increasing risk
12.5 times. Children’s direct exposure to pesticides increased risk of
large- cell NHL sevenfold and prenatal exposure to insect extermination
increased the risk of Burkitt’s lymphoma eightfold.
