Household Pesticide Exposure and Risk of Childhood Leukemia
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Household Pesticide Exposure and Risk of Childhood Leukemia
Date:
Fri, 30 Aug 2002
From:
Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization: Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)
To: Paul Helliker <phelliker@cdpr.ca.gov>
Director, State of California, Department of Pesticide
Regulation
cc: Christine Whitman whitman.christine@epa.gov
Children's
Health Article
Environmental
Health Perspectives Volume 110, Number 9, September 2002
Critical
Windows of Exposure to Household Pesticides and Risk of Childhood Leukemia
Xiaomei Ma,1
Patricia A. Buffler,1 Robert B. Gunier,2 Gary Dahl,3 Martyn T. Smith,1
Kyndaron Reinier,1 and Peggy Reynolds2
1School of
Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA;
2Environmental
Health Investigations Branch, California Department of Health Services,
Oakland, California, USA; 3Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford,
California, USA
1School of
Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA;
2Environmental Health Investigations Branch, California Department of Health
Services, Oakland, California, USA; 3Stanford University School of Medicine,
Stanford, California, USA
Full
Article in HTML Full Article in PDF
Abstract
The potential
etiologic role of household pesticide exposures was examined in the Northern
California Childhood Leukemia Study. A total of 162 patients (0-14 years old)
with newly diagnosed leukemia were rapidly ascertained during 1995-1999, and
162 matched control subjects were randomly selected from the birth registry.
The use of professional pest control services at any time from 1 year before
birth to 3 years after was associated with a significantly increased risk of
childhood leukemia [odds ratio (OR) = 2.8; 95% confidence interval (CI),
1.4-5.7], and the exposure during year 2 was associated with the highest risk
(OR = 3.6; 95% CI, 1.6-8.3). The ORs for exposure to insecticides during the
3 months before pregnancy, pregnancy, and years 1, 2, and 3 were 1.8 (95% CI,
1.1-3.1), 2.1 (95% CI, 1.3-3.5), 1.7 (95% CI, 1.0-2.9), 1.6 (95% CI,
1.0-2.7), and 1.2 (95% CI, 0.7-2.1), respectively. Insecticide exposures
early in life appear to be more significant than later exposures, and the
highest risk was observed for exposure during pregnancy. Additionally, more
frequent exposure to insecticides was associated with a higher risk. In
contrast to insecticides, the association between herbicides and leukemia was
weak and nonsignificant. Pesticides were also grouped based on where they
were applied. Exposure to indoor pesticides was associated with an increased
risk, whereas no significant association was observed for exposure to outdoor
pesticides. The findings suggest that exposure to household pesticides is
associated with an elevated risk of childhood leukemia and further indicate
the importance of the timing and location of exposure. Key words:
case-control studies, child, herbicides, insecticides, leukemia, pesticides.
Environ Health Perspect 110:955-960 (2002). [Online 14 August 2002]
http://ehpnet1.niehs.nih.gov/docs/2002/110p955-960ma/abstract.html
Address
correspondence to X. Ma, School of Public Health, University of California,
Berkeley, CA 94720-7360 USA. Telephone: (510) 643-3958. Fax: (510) 643-1735.
E-mail: xmma@uclink4.berkeley.edu
We
thank J. Feusner, K. Matthay, S. Month, V. Crouse, K. Leung, and V. Kiley for
assistance with recruiting patients and M. Does for supervising fieldwork.
The
study was supported by grants from the National Institute of Environmental
Health Sciences (PS42 ES04705 and RO1 ES09137). X.M. was supported by a grant
from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (T01/CCT917644-01).
Received
14 November 2001; accepted 12 March 2002.
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