A 1992 survey conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency found that 82 percent of U.S. households use pesticides.  Now, a mounting number of scientific studies suggest that they may increase the children's odds of getting cancer.

In 1997, National Cancer Institute researches Sheila  Hoar Zahm, Ph.D. and Mary H. Ward, Ph.D. reviewed dozens of reports on cancer cases and found that children appear to be especially vulnerable to pesticides.  Some research indicated kids exposed to these substances had a four to nine times greater risk of getting leukemia, and a six to seven times greater risk of getting brain cancer.

A recent study by scientists at Rutgers University, in Piscataway, New Jersey, found that lingering pesticide residue on toys and other surfaces in a room that has been treated is likely to cause a child between the ages of three and six to ingest a daily does of pesticides that is sixty-nine times higher than the does the EPA considers safe.  For younger children who put toys in their mouths, the dose could be as much as 211 times higher.  And a November 1997 report showed that children who developed brain tumors were twice as likely to have had prenatal exposure to flea-and-tick foggers and sprays.

To limit use of pesticides, Marion Moses, M.D., director of the Pesticide Education Center, a nonprofit group in San Francisco, offers the following nontoxic alternatives:

Use insect traps rather than insecticide sprays, bombs, or foggers.

Choose organic fertilizers and nontoxic weed killers rather than the popular synthetic chemical sprays.  Hot water and vinegar will kill weeds in sidewalk cracks, and a nontoxic herbicide made from corn gluten is now available for general lawn use.

For more information, call the Pesticide Education Center at 800-732-3733   - AR