Subject: PANUPS: Childhood Brain Cancer

From: Pesticide Action Network North America Reg Ctr <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 93 17:17:10 PST

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PESTICIDE ACTION NETWORK NORTH AMERICA UPDATES 
SERVICE
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CHILDHOOD BRAIN CANCER AND HOUSEHOLD PETICIDE USE

January 26, 1993

	An epidemiological study published this month in the 
Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 
explores statistical evidence of a link between brain cancer in 
children and family use of pesticides in and around the affected 
child's home. In this case-control study,  brain cancer cases in 
Missouri children from birth to ten years were compared with 
two control groups - one consisting of children with other types 
of cancer and one of healthy children who were known by the 
families of the children with brain cancer. The children in the 
"other cancers" control group were identified from state health 
registry records. Each child in the "friends" control group of 
healthy children was pair-matched by age and sex to a child in the 
brain cancer case group. The study examined pesticide use for 
common household pests (roaches, ants, mosquitoes, fleas, and 
ticks), termites, lice, and garden and landscape pest insects and 
weeds. For each pesticide use situation, mothers of all cases and 
controls were asked the number of times that pesticides were 
used during pregnancy and in the interval between birth and six 
months, and the average number of times per year that pesticides 
were used between the time the child studied was seven months 
of age and the time that the child was diagnosed with cancer (or, 
in the case of healthy controls, when the child was of the same 
age that his or her "matched" counterpart in the brain cancer 
group was diagnosed.)
	Several statistically significant correlations were found. The 
authors of the study comment that the results should be interpreted 
cautiously, as the group studied is relatively small and geographically 
limited, and the data interpreted is drawn from recall by parents (often 
over many years) and involves multiple types of data for comparison.  
However, the authors see their findings as suggestive of relationships 
between the use of certain pesticides and childhood brain cancer.
	Some of the active ingredients showing the strongest 
correlations with increased prevalence of brain or other cancers are 
suspected human carcinogens based on laboratory toxicology. For 
example, household products containing the insecticides lindane (used 
in Kwell prescription shampoo for lice control), carbaryl (used in many 
garden pest control products, as well as flea products for dogs), and 
dichlorvos (an active ingredient in no-pest strips and flea control 
collars for pets during the study  period) all showed significant 
relationships to the prevalence of childhood brain cancer.  Use of the 
insecticide diazinon in the garden was also associated with childhood 
brain cancer in comparison to controls.
	 Other  significant results include increased prevalence of brain 
cancer correlated with "any termite treatment" to the child's home 
within a year prior to residence, or at any time from the beginning of 
pregnancy to the time the child was diagnosed with brain cancer.  Yard 
herbicide use between the time of pregnancy and the age of six months 
was significantly linked with a higher occurrence of childhood brain 
cancer when compared with controls from the group of children with 
other cancers.  There was also a significant increase in the prevalence of 
brain cancer associated with yard herbicides when the child studied was 
over the age of seven months, compared with healthy controls.
	The researchers report that these multiple significant findings 
illustrate the need for further research and examination of associations 
between pesticide exposure and serious diseases such as cancer.  The 
evidence resulting from this case-control study is also consistent with 
relationships between exposure and cancer reported by laboratory and 
other field research.

SOURCE:  "Family Pesticide Use and Childhood Brain Cancer," by JR 
Davis, RC Brownson, R Garcia, BK Bentz, and A Turner, Archives of 
Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 24, 87-92.

CONTACT: Dr. James R. Davis,  Chronic Disease Prevention and 
Health Promotion, Missouri Department of Health, 201 Business Loop 
70 W., Columbia, MO 65203, USA.
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This information is provided by the Pesticide Action Network North 
America Updates Service (PANUPS), a pesticide-related news service 
from the Pesticide Action Network (PAN) North American Regional 
Center. Updates are posted weekly on EcoNet in the "en.pesticides," 
"en.agriculture" and other appropriate electronic conferences, and 
distributed worldwide across the APC computer network. PANUPS is 
also posted in the Public Conference on RTK NET, on GeoNet in the 
PESTICIDES-BBS bulletin board, on FidoNet in The Ecology Network, 
on the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SANET) on BitNet, and on 
PENpages agriculture information service at Penn State Univ. Hard-
copy compilations of these updates are also available. For more 
information about PAN activities and publications, contact: PAN NA 
RC, 965 Mission Street #514, San Francisco, CA 94103. Tel: (415) 541-
9140. Fax: (415) 541-9253. Telex: 156283472 PANNA. E-mail address on 
EcoNet: [email-masked]
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