Leukemia Remission Children:
Show Unique Immune System Differences
Remission is not a random hit or miss occurrence among leukemia patients.   Children who achieve remission were found to have higher levels of a type of "cancer eating" white blood cell called "Natural Killer Cells."   As synthetic chemicals have been found to lower immune system counts, common sense would suggest the critical importance of their avoidance.

Introduction to child cancers and chemicals 
Summary of the research by Dr. Sinclair, M.D., 
Trends for brain cancer, facts, theories.

Child Cancer Survey Form
If your child has ever had cancer -
Help us pinpoint the environmental factors contributing to the rise in child cancers being observed throughout the U.S.  (and other industrialized countries). This form asks about 25 questions regarding lifestyle habits and living conditions that are suspected of contributing to the current increase in child cancer rates.

New York Times Article Discusses Rise in Child Cancers
SOURCE: NEW YORK TIMES, September 29, 1997

The September 29, 1997 New York Times article entitled "New Toxins Suspected as Cancer Rate Rises in Children"  discussed the rises being seen in child cancers over the past 20 years.  Specific quotes from the article include the following:

The rate of cancer among American children has been rising for decades. Although the reasons remain unclear, many experts suspect the increase may be partly the result of growing exposure to new chemicals in the environment.

And today, according to experts in the field, a newborn child faces a risk of about 1 in 600 of contracting cancer by age 10 (as of 1997).

• Depending on which types of cancer are counted, and in what age groups among the nation's youth, the rate of increase has amounted to nearly 1 percent a year, according to the National Cancer Institute. Over a few decades, that has meant striking double-digit increases.
  
• "I had not realized that the numbers were going up that way," said Karen Florini, a lawyer specializing in health issues at the Environmental Defense Fund. "I think it indicates a very disturbing trend that we had better get to the bottom of."
  
• In the United States, cancer is diagnosed each year in an estimated 8,000 children below the age of 15. Cancer, although it kills fewer children than accidents do, it is the most common form of fatal childhood disease, accounting for about 10 percent of all deaths in childhood.
  
• Acute lymphoblastic leukemia in boys and girls increased 27 percent between 1973 and 1990; since then, the rate in boys has declined, but it is still rising in girls. Brain cancer, or glioma, increased nearly 40 percent from 1973 to 1994. These two forms of cancer account for most of the disease in children.
  
• Although the causes are not known and are probably many, some experts say toxins in the air, food, dust, soil and drinking water are prime suspects.
  
• "I'm talking about new research on air pollutants, water pollutants and pesticides and their effects on children," said Carol Browner, the administrator of the EPA, "and new testing guidelines that routinely incorporate children's issues into EPA's risk assessments. I'm talking about moving beyond the chemical-by-chemical approaches of the past, and instead looking at a child's total cumulative risk from all exposures to toxic chemicals."
  
• "The increases are too rapid to reflect genetic changes, and better diagnostic detection is not a likely explanation," said Dr. Philip Landrigan, a pediatrician who directs the division of environmental medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City and who is the senior adviser to a new office of children's health at the EPA "The strong probability exists that environmental factors are playing a role."
  
• In a study published in The American Journal of Public Health in February 1995, researchers suggested that "use of home pesticides may be associated with some types of childhood cancer."
  
• Another study, published in The Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology in 1993, found associations between brain cancer in Missouri children and the use of pesticides in homes and yards.
  

Article by John H. Cushman, Jr.
New York Times
September 29, 1997

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Introduction to Child Cancers, Chemicals and Pesticides
by Wayne Sinclair, M.D.
Board Certified Immunology
Vero Beach, Florida

The increase in childhood brain tumors and cancers in central east Florida has fortunately begun a more thorough investigation into the elevated brain cancer rates for our area.  This is long overdue. As a physician involved in the treatment and research of chemically induced illnesses and immune system toxicology (the study of how chemicals weaken the immune system), I am watching with interest the direction state investigators choose for research

I was disturbed by a local newspaper report of a comment made by one state investigator stating there is "no solid base of information to start from." To the contrary, there is currently excellent information available regarding suspected causes of related brain and blood cancers to help point us in the right direction. First, brain cancer has been showing a statistical increase over the past 60 years.  Researchers agree this is not just attributable to improved diagnosis. Each year more than 16,000 children and adults in the U.S. are diagnosed with a brain tumor.  The brain cancer figures below, from the American Cancer Society, show a disturbing trend in the number of cases being found per 100,000 population:

1940.... 1.95 per 100,000 population
1945.... 2.25 per 100,000
1950.... 2.90 per 100,000
1955.... 3.40 per 100,000
1960.... 3.70 per 100,000
1965.... 3.85 per 100,000
1970.... 4.10 per 100,000
1975.... 4.25 per 100,000

These figures showing a steady increase are true for all industrialized countries, and therefore, strongly implicate chemicals used in modern society. The fact that similar increases are occurring in children also point out this is not just an effect among aging Americans.

The next question we need to ask is which chemicals have been linked to brain cancers? Identified risk factors for brain cancers now include workers exposed to chemicals used in vinyl and rubber production, as well as an increased risk for workers employed at oil refineries or chemical manufacturing plants. Exposure to chemicals called nitrosamines, such as in cured meats and baby pacifiers, have also been implicated. Another study by the National Cancer Institute of 3,827 Florida Pest Control Operators found they had approximately twice the normal rate of brain cancer. Dr. Jack Leiss and David Savitz reported in the 1995 American Journal of Public Health of several studies showing pesticide exposure increases risks for childhood cancer. This included one study which found over twice the risk of brain cancer for children exposed to household insecticide extermination. Also reported was research by Dr. Ellen Davis of children with brain cancer under 10 years of age. This study found children with brain cancer had 6.2 times greater exposure to certain pesticides. A 1987 study by the University of Southern California found children exposed to home and lawn pesticide use had a 6.5 times increased risk of developing leukemia.

One of the strongest links of pesticides causing child cancer comes from research of children developing neuroblastoma after homes were treated with the pesticide chlordane. Researchers at the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration in Washington, D.C. reported of 5 cases of child neuroblastoma which were suspected to have occurred following chlordane treatment in or around the home. In one case, a 3 year 9 month old boy developed neuroblastoma after his family moved into a new home. Two years prior to the child's birth and also when he was two years old, the house was treated for termite infestation with chlordane. This report also discussed other cancers following chlordane treatment, which included 3 cases of aplastic anemia and 3 cases of leukemia. 25 other cases of cancers were reported elsewhere following chlordane home exposure. Many of these cases have moved into litigation.

Another study appearing in the 1981 journal CANCER, detected high levels of chlordane in 13 children with cancer. Researchers have stated that chlordane is a high risk chemical for brain cancer because it is a fat soluble compound and therefore has the potential to accumulate in the brain.

In regards to the so called safety tests conducted by chemical companies on pesticides, there is unfortunately no consideration given to the fact that the developing fetus has been reported to be 50 times more vulnerable to the harm of cancer causing chemicals. Also, the EPA does not take into account that a newborn child does not develop an efficient blood brain barrier until at least one year after birth. The blood brain barrier functions to keep toxic substances out of the brain and is believed to be the reason why epilepsy is shown to be an increased risk factor for developing brain cancer, as epileptic patients have been found to have lower blood brain barrier function.

One reason scientists are still extremely concerned about chlordane is the fact that although its use was stopped in the U.S. in April of 1988, chlordane is such an extremely persistent pesticide that it is still being detected in the air of homes today. In fact, tests of over 1000 homes performed by the U.S. Air Force and other agencies have found that approximately 75% of all homes built before 1988 show air contamination of the pesticide chlordane and that 6-7% are suspected of being over the maximum safe levels set by the National Academy of Sciences. This is such a large number of homes that toxicologist Dr. Samuel Epstein stated in a major medical journal that, "A national program for monitoring all homes treated is urgently needed to detect persistent contamination." Dr. David Cassidy, a chlordane research toxicologist in Texas, stated that the chlordane contamination problem is of such magnitude nationally that it is, "causing more harm than that caused by cigarette smoking." This is a very strong statement, but one that I certainly agree and brings to reality the magnitude of the problem.

Next we need to look at the research explaining how and why pesticides can be increasing the risk of child cancers. The explanations now show that pesticides are able to cause at least two biological changes in the body that enable cancer to grow.

• First, pesticides have shown the ability to damage our DNA and genetic structure.
  
• Second, pesticides are now being found to seriously weaken the human immune system. All of us develop cancer cells on a regular basis and it is our immune system which literally attacks and removes these cancer cells from our body. Therefore, having an immune system of high integrity is critical for preventing cancer in an individual.

Regarding children with neuroblastoma, there have been several studies done finding these children frequently have damage to the end of what is called "chromosome number 1." Scientists believe this part of the chromosome may be responsible for suppressing tumor growth or controlling cell growth. This genetic damage is not observed in other cells in these children.

Children with neuroblastoma are also being found to have defects in the part of their immune system which removes cancer from the body. For example, it was found by researchers at the University of Hamburg, Germany, that the blood of  healthy people contain higher numbers of antibodies called IgM, which seek out and destroy neuroblastoma cells. However, in a test of 11 people with neuroblastoma, none had properly working IgM antibodies. Other parts of the immune system which have been found to attack neuroblastoma and cancer cells are our cells called natural killer cells and macrophages. In studies of macrophages and cancer, conducted by the Department of Pediatrics, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, it was found that exposure to chlordane literally paralyzed the ability of macrophages to search and destroy cancer cells. Certainly, this raises legitimate questions to the role of chlordane and other pesticides in and around homes of children with cancer. It is also of concern, that the two counties showing the highest rates of childhood cancer in Florida, St. Lucie and Indian River, are the same two counties with the highest proportion of the acreage devoted to growing citrus.

Although there are many chemicals a child can be exposed to which can damage his/her chromosome structure, we need to first investigate chemicals the child may have been exposed to on a repeated basis. Therefore, our researchers must look at pesticides which may have been applied inside or around the homes (such as chlordane) as well as pesticides that may have been used in agriculture in the nearby area.

If you have a child with any form of cancer please help us identify the main environmental causes of this illness (many of which are often overlooked) by completing the survey form before you leave our web site by clicking on the link - Child Cancer Survey Form.   Thank you - Wayne Sinclair, M.D.

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Brain Cancer Cluster Surrounds Petrochemical Plant
SOURCE: Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, 43:117-129, 1994

An unusually high number of bone, bladder and brain cancers were found to be occurring among children living in a residential area near 3 petrochemical plants between 1981 and 1990. The children ranged in age from 0-19 years. Upon reviewing 28 death certificates of these three types of cancers, 27 of the children lived within 2-3 kilometers (approx. 1.0-2.0 miles) from the chemical plants.   According to the pollution reports compiled by the Environmental Protection Agency of the Republic of China, nine serious air pollution events occurred in these chemical plant districts which released the chemicals vinyl chloride and acrylonitrile.  Other chemical sources from the plants included polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and well-water contamination with the chemical phenol, which was found far over government safety guidelines.

Drs. Bi Jen Pan, Yu Jue Hong, Gwo Chin Chang, Ming Tsan Wang
School of Public Health, Kaosiung Medical College, Taiwan, China

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Twenty-seven patients who died from cancer were found to have significantly higher levels of pesticides in their fat tissues in comparison to forty-four people who died from other illnesses.

Researchers at the School of Medicine, Odense University, Denmark, surveyed a total of 71 people who died either from cancer or from another illness.  Samples of fat tissue were removed from the abdomen of each deceased individual.  Investigators then analyzed the fat tissue to determine the levels of chlorinated chemicals DDE and PCB's. DDE is the break-down product of the pesticide DDT which is still used today on foreign grown produce and in orange and grapefruit production as a by-product in the pesticide "KELTHANE."  PCB's are still found in older fluorescent light fixtures and as a coolant in common power transformers seen on telephone poles.  Significant releases of PCB exposure can occur in older schools and offices which still have their power transformers inside the building (a common practice at one time) and can occur after lightning strikes on outdoor power transformers or as leaks occur on older transformers.

Of significant concern, although PCB's have been banned, they were used in window caulking and concrete block & brick mortar mixes (as a plasticizer) prior to 1980. Therefore, any home built before this date could release significant levels of PCB's. Also, recently, the EPA has published reports showing PCB's are inadvertently produced during the manufacture of paints - especially paints containing yellow (and orange to a lesser degree). Because of the large surface areas of paints - this could be a serious problem.

After comparing both individuals who died of cancer and those who died of other illnesses, it was found that cancer patients had approximately twice the levels of PCB's in their bodies as people dying of other illnesses.The table below details specific findings: