Good News About What Doesn't Cause Childhood Leukemia
Childhood leukemia is the most common cancer in children, and there have been any number of suggestions that it might be due to one or more agents in our environment. New studies provide some good news for a change, because they suggest that ultrasound exams in pregnancy and living near power lines don't cause leukemia.
A major study run by the National Cancer Institute had previously found that childhood leukemia wasn't linked to living in a home with high voltage wiring, and the authors of that study now have examined whether the leukemia risk might be increased by living near power lines. Here, too, they found no evidence that risk was increased either by living near high voltage power lines or by living in areas where the amount of exposure was high. (Kleinerman RA et al: American Journal of Epidemiology, March 1, 2000, pp. 512-515)
In another study, researchers used national data from Sweden to identify all cases of leukemia among children born since 1989, and they checked to see if the risk of leukemia was linked to whether the child's mother had an ultrasound exam during pregnancy. There wasn't any link found, even when the authors looked at mothers who had more than one such exam during their pregnancy. (Naumburg E et al: British Medical Journal, January 29, 2000, pp. 282-283)
Comment: We tend to only hear about medical research that confirms our worst fears about the risks of our environment. However, here are two studies, both of which received little media attention, which offer some balance and, for a change, some reassurance!
© April 2000 Child Health Alert
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