Research in California has shown that exposure to air pollution may increase the likelihood of children developing cancer.
Data was gathered between the number of children under 6 years old born between 1997 and 2007, that also had cancer with the amount of local traffic exposure. The more traffic pollution there was, the higher the odds for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (white blood cell cancer), tumors (cancers of the testicles, ovaries and other organs) and eye cancer.
It was suggested that these risks were triggered during pregnancy, since some cancers do in fact develop in the womb. Furthermore, that air pollution has been related to diseases other than cancer.
In the preliminary results the researchers found that the cancer strain had grown significantly as air pollution rose within the studied decade. The researchers were able to measure the air pollution during the mother’s pregnancy, with a follow-up of the children’s first year. What was taken into account was the exposure to gas emissions, amount of traffic and even the weather.
Pregnant mothers are reassured that they must not be alarmed at these new findings, that whilst the likelihood has increased, this does not put all children at risk of becoming ill.
“There has been an association between air pollution and other diseases,” said Dr. Rubin Cohen, director of the Adult Cystic Fibrosis and Bronchiectasis Center, according to NewsMaxHealth. “We know that pollution causes asthma, and that is probably more real than the cancer issue.”
Whilst the discovery can perhaps reduce the risk child cancer in the future, the relationship between the environment and its effect on the child is preliminary at this stage. Nothing has been stuck down as concrete. Thus far, the reasons why a child may suffer from a debilitating illness is a long and complex question – and the answers are still up in the air.