Pesticides and Cancer: Is there a link?

Running Head: PESTICIDES AND CANCER 1
Pesticides and Cancer: Is there a link?
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PESTICIDES AND CANCER: IS THERE A LINK?
Research Question: Among children exposed to indoor or outdoor residential pesticides, what
is the risk of developing childhood cancer?
Background Information
Introduction
The last few decades, many environmental concerns have aroused divergent debates and multi-
activism of the public as much as pesticides, the main concern being the health of children. There
are overlying deep controversies surrounding the issue of pesticides and the impact on human
health, regardless of many publications of studies on the subject. This assessment paper will to
elucidate how the pesticide use has contributed immensely to the rates of cancer in children. It
will also draw a true environmental health and risk assessment of the pesticides.
Looking back at the history of pesticide development and use will help us understand the
controversies surrounding the environmental concerns of pesticides. Pesticides gained
prominence use in World War II during warfare. In fact, those they were not referred to as
pesticides but rather chemicals weapons because their sole purpose was use during the war.
Some pesticides used today were developed those days. For instance, the organophosphate
insecticides were developed as nerve gases, and the phenoxy herbicides were developed to
eliminate Japanese rice crops and later applied to defoliate large areas in jungle warfare. The
chemicals were later used by farmers in agricultural production, mosquito eradication, and
backyard gardens.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the epidemiologists noted a rise in the incidences of non-
Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL). (1) The incidences were more concentrated around agricultural

PESTICIDES AND CANCER: IS THERE A LINK?
areas. (2) The increase in the use of pesticides in agricultural areas paralleled with the NHL
incidences. This prompted multi-agency interests into the study of the trend where they theorized
the existence of a causal relationship between chemicals uses in the farms with NHL disease.
Many scientific theories and works of literatures developed around the world trying to explain
the relationship between pesticide use and environmental health risk factors.
Literature review
Today, the main concerns about the pesticides use are the children and the unborn. A survey
conducted by 20th Australian Total Diet Survey found residues of pesticide chemicals in infant
foods, which it was regarded as insignificant because it was very low.
Considering the body size of children, they face the greatest biocide exposure. According to 20th
Australian Total Diet Survey, “in general, the dietary exposure to pesticides was highest for the
toddler age group. This is due to the high food consumption relative to body weight.” (3)
A the University of Wisconsin-Madison, researchers established that children and developing
fetus are affected by the amounts of agricultural chemicals found in foods regardless of the levels
considered safe by the authorities. The study found that there were diminishing learning ability
and aggression in children and newborn due to the influence of the low dosage mixture on
developing neurological, endocrine and immune systems.
An independent research was conducted on the exposures, where it was established that exposure
of fetus and juveniles to amounts more than 1000 times lower than previously regarded as safe
caused serious developmental problems. (4, 5)
At the Dukes University Medical Center, (6) and the Department of Pharmacology and Cancer
Biology, explained how the far lower than currently permitted quantities of agricultural

PESTICIDES AND CANCER: IS THERE A LINK?
chemicals by most regulatory agencies around the world, affect the developing fetus and the
newborn. They established that due to the lower concentration of protective serum proteins in the
fetus than adults, the fetus and the newborns are more vulnerable to chemical effects. (6) As
results of exposure to those chemicals, the fetus and newborns have developmental neurotoxicity
which damages the developing nervous system. (7)
A study conducted to analyze incidences in US found that cancer incidences were high in1992-
2001 for children below 15 years. It was also noted that a county with agricultural activities has
elevated cancer incidences of malignant bone tumors. These areas were also linked to higher
number of Ewing’s sarcoma and HL incidences. (2)
Research has established a link between pregnant mother exposure to pesticides and the elevated
risk to childhood brain tumors (CBT). A case study was conducted in Australia to investigate the
link between the pregnant mother exposure and development of CBT. The odds ratio (ORs) for
professional pest control treatments at homes in the period before pregnancy, during pregnancy,
and after the child’s birth were 1.54 and 1.04. The odds ratio for treatments exclusively before
pregnancy and during pregnancy were 1.90 and 1.02. The OR was found to be 1.79 if the father
was at home during treatment. The OR of 1.36 was observed as a result of parental occupational
exposure. The prenatal home pesticides exposure elevated the low and high-grade gliomas. The
findings concluded that preconception and during pregnancy exposure to pesticides was
associated with higher rates of children CBT. (8)
Retinoblastoma risk factors remain largely unknown. A researcher studied the relationships that
exist between the parental occupational exposures for 10 years and one year before the
conception and the development of children sporadic bilateral retinoblastoma. From 198