A new study linked exposure to multiple pesticides to a higher risk of childhood cancers. The first-of-its-kind research studied the link between multiple widely used pesticides and common childhood cancers compared to previous research, which looked at exposure to one pesticide.
The study determined that children are more susceptible to the health effects from exposure to multiple pesticides in water, produce, meat, fish, processed foods and agriculture communities than previous studies thought.
“As individuals, we aren’t just exposed to one chemical, but a mixture, so if you are just studying one chemical alone, then you are not able to capture the exposures—it gives you limited information,” Jabeen Taiba, a lead author of the study from the University of Nebraska medical center, said.
While most research measures pesticides’ toxicity on an individual basis and regulation occurs as if exposure happens in isolation from one another, the new study said people are exposed to multiple pesticides at any given time through water, air, dust and at home, The Guardian reported. The study confirmed that “exposure to a 10 percent mixture increased brain cancer rates by 36 percent, leukemia rates by 23 percent and overall pediatric cancer rates by 30 percent in Nebraska,” the study found.
Cancer data from 2,500 pediatric cases in Nebraska over a 22-year period were examined in this study. Nebraska has the second highest rates of childhood cancers researchers believe because of the widespread use of multiple pesticides in the “nation’s agricultural heartland.”
The researchers said the most harmful mixes included herbicides such as dicamba, glyphosate and paraquat, which are all sprayed on millions of acres of cropland across the U.S. Children’s exposure to multiple pesticides in food presents an underestimated danger, Taiba said and The Guardian reported.
“We are exposed to multiple pesticides through water and food, so this is not just a problem for the agricultural communities,” Taiba said.
Taiba said that changes need to be made to the Environmental Protection Agency’s regulatory structure, recommends buying organic foods as much as possible to protect against some pesticide exposure.
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