POLLUTION Links for MOST CHILHOOD CANCER cases

'Most [note well: _most_!] childhood cancers are probably initiated by close perinatal (around birth) encounters with one or more of these high emissions sources,' said Knox'

Child cancers linked to pollutants

Mon Jan 17, 2005 09:29 AM GMT Printer Friendly Email Article RSS By Patricia Reaney

LONDON (Reuters) - Most childhood cancers are probably caused by exposure in the womb to environmental and industrial pollutants that

George Knox, an emeritus professor at the University of Birmingham, compared birth and death records of children who had died from cancer with a chemical emissions map of Britain.

He found that children born within a 1-km radius of chemical emissions hotspots were 2-4 times more likely to die of cancer before reaching 16 than other children.

'Most childhood cancers are probably initiated by close perinatal (around birth) encounters with one or more of these high emissions sources,' said Knox.

Being born near high emission sites of the organic compounds carbon monoxide and 1,3-butadiene carried the highest risks.

Carbon monoxide is a product of internal combustion engines and 1,3-butadiene is used to manufacture synthetic rubber and is also a product of internal combustion engines.

'These diseases are determined very early in life, probably prenatally,' Knox said in an interview. 'They are related to atmospheric emissions that are probably absorbed by the mother and passed across the placenta.'

Particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, which are linked to oil burning and compounds such as benzene, benz(a)pyrene and dioxins were also mentioned in the study published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health on Monday.

The maps produced by the UK National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory measured emissions of different chemicals per square kilometre per year across the country for 2001. Different patterns depict varying types of chemicals.

Knox converted the hotspots into map references and measured the distances between them and the birth and death addresses of the children born between 1960-1980 who had died of cancer.

'It was the birth addresses which were closer to these hotpots,' said Knox, adding it suggests exposure occurred before or shortly after the birth.

Most of the hotspots in 2001 would have been present when the children had been born.

'With that assumption, one can say that these children were exposed at

Childhood cancers are comparatively rare. They occur in about 1 in 1,000 children but in some of the hotspots it is 3 or 4 per 1,000. Cancer experts say the disease has risen steadily in European children in recent decades but that survival rates have improved.

Leukaemia is the most common childhood cancer along with brain and spinal tumours. About 70 percent of all childhood cancers are successfully treated.

© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.

Cancer wasn't a large issue until the industrial revolution; now it's a major killer. Well, something to ponder on.

This graph shows the increase in cancer mortality during the 1900s. It shows a greater than 3 fold increase in cancer death rates during this period.

There appears to be a catastrophe unfolding in our Oceans... with a soup of plastic and organic toxins that are making there way up the entire food chain... leading to a 300% increase in autism and other neuro developmental anomalies that are occurring across species... as well as cancers and impairments to the immune system, from the coral reef polyps on up to the great orcas... and finally.. to us... sitting at the "apparent" top of the food chain...

please see my blog on PCB's, ocean, plastic, autism, cancer http://OpenDoorWorld.com/blog

and sign the petition at: http://OpenDoorWorld.com/petition

and join our Reef Team at: http://OpenDoorWorld.com/reef

thank you kindly,

larry --in key largo