Scientists in America have found an association between indoor pesticides and a heightened risk of certain childhood cancers.
Researchers from Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health reviewed 16 studies of children exposed to indoor pesticides, including professional pest control services, flea and tick pet collars, and various ready-to-use insect sprays. The study sample included 7,400 cancer cases and was matched with 9,437 healthy control subjects.
The researchers – whose review is published in Pediatrics – found that residential insecticides were associated with a 47% increased risk for childhood leukemia and a 43% increased risk for childhood lymphomas. They stressed that these were increases in relative risk for diseases that are not especially common.
Senior researcher, Chensheng Lu, told The New York Times: “The incidence of childhood leukemia and lymphoma has increased in recent years, and that prompted us to look at this issue. But the risks can be managed as long as parents think, before using pesticides, about better ways to make a house pest-proof or pest-free. That’s a far more important message.”
