Exposure to More Than One Pesticide Increases Risk of Childhood Cancer: Study

When children are exposed to multiple pesticides, it significantly increases their risk of childhood cancers in comparison to being exposed to just one, according to new research.

The results of the study bring up new concerns that kids are at greater risk from the harmful effects of the toxic substances than once thought, reported The Guardian.

“We observed a statistically significant positive association between the 32 agrichemicals and overall pediatric cancer and subtypes,” the authors of the study wrote. “Dicamba, glyphosate, paraquat, quizalofop, triasulfuron, and tefluthrin largely contributed to the joint association… We observed positive associations between agrichemical mixtures and overall cancer, brain and CNS cancers, and leukemia among children.”

In the first-of-its kind study, researchers examined the association between exposures to multiple commonly used pesticides and the most prevalent childhood cancers. The bulk of earlier research had focused on the toxicity of individual pesticides.

“As individuals, we aren’t just exposed to one chemical, but a mixture, so if you are just studying one chemical alone, then you are not able to capture the exposures – it gives you limited information,” lead author of the study Jabeen Taiba, a postdoctoral research associate with University of Nebraska Medical Center, told The Guardian.

People can become exposed to multiple pesticides through foods such as fish, meat, produce and processed foods, as well as through drinking water. Children living in agricultural communities can also be exposed to contaminated dust, air and water, as well as to pesticide residue inside their homes.

The researchers found that being exposed to a 10 percent mixture of pesticides increased the rate of brain cancer by 36 percent, overall pediatric cancer by 30 percent and leukemia by 23 percent. The cancers are some of the most common in Nebraska, where the study was conducted.

“Among the pesticides considered in the mixture, herbicides contributed the most toward these joint associations,” the authors wrote in the study.

The findings, “Exploring the Joint Association Between Agrichemical Mixtures and Pediatric Cancer,” were published in the journal GeoHealth.

The research team looked at 22 years of cancer data in Nebraska from 2,500 pediatric cases. Located in the country’s agricultural heartland, the state has the second-highest rates of childhood cancer in the U.S., partially because of widespread pesticide use.

Pesticides are particularly harmful to children due to their smaller size and because they are still growing, which means the health risks can be higher at a lower level of exposure.

Taiba said farm workers and those in agricultural communities face the greatest risks, though exposure through food is an underestimated danger to children.

Taiba recommended that people take measures to protect themselves, like investing in effective water filtration systems and buying organic foods when they can, until regulators begin taking the toxicity of multiple substances into account.

Taiba also advised adults working with pesticides to leave their shoes and work clothes outside. Earlier research has found that pesticides brought or tracked into the home represent a major source of exposure for kids.

“These results can help policymakers make better decisions to protect children from pesticide exposure and reduce the pediatric cancer burden,” the study’s authors wrote.