Mommy, mommy, how does your garden grow?
If you are one of the millions of parents around the world, who uses gardening as a means of escaping from the stress associated with raising young human beings, then you might want to brace yourself for some disturbing news:
A new study found that children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) had a significantly greater likelihood of exposure to household pesticides compared with a control group.
Translation: Parents of preschoolers, who use pesticides on their grass, in their gardens and around the house have a greater chance of developing cancer.
According to the study, more than twice as many mothers of children with ALL reported using pesticides in the home than did mothers of children in the study’s control group (33% to 14%). What’s more, researchers say kids with parents that had green thumbs were more likely to have a concentration of the components of organophosphates in their bloodstream. The study also found that the pesticides in question were ones commonly used on household gardens rather than those used for commercial use.
Scientists warn that more research must be done to further examine the relationship between pesticides and childhood cancer, especially research based on biomarkers, exposure intensity, and exposure-gene interactions. Still, they say that the new study provides significant proof that reducing exposure to pesticides could benefit young children.
ALL is the most common childhood cancer and tends to affect preschool age children the most. Aside from Down syndrome, which increases leukemia risk by 10- to 20-fold, risk factors for ALL have remained largely hypothetical until now.
The results of the new study are being compared with those from several other recent investigations, which have suggested that pregnant women, who are exposed to pesticides, have a greater likelihood of giving birth to babies with ALL.
I guess having a black thumb has its advantages after all.
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