Cancer
Cancer is the leading cause of death from disease in children in the United States, with more than 12,000 new cases diagnosed each year — most commonly leukemia. The disease develops from multiple factors interacting, such as environmental pollutants, genes, nutrition, and immunologic and socioeconomic status. However, we don’t know exactly how most cancers develop; for example, scientists and physicians do not know how more than 90 percent of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia develops.
CCCEH scientists are finding that chronic prenatal exposure to air pollution (PAHs) from fuel burning is linked not only to developmental delay and asthma, but also to increased cancer risk. Results indicate early genetic damage which can lead to increased cancer risk. The developing fetus is so vulnerable because of low-functioning detoxification enzymes, lower DNA repair efficiency, and rapid cell proliferation. DNA damage can result in decreased exchange of oxygen and nutrients. Environmental insults during this critical stage of development set the stage not just for greater health problems in childhood, but for cancer and chronic diseases over a lifetime.
What We Know About Cancer
Following are published key findings from CCCEH research showing how early life exposures to PAHs are linked to increased genetic damage.
- Approximately 40 percent of babies in the study were born with DNA damage associated with carcinogenic PAHs. Of particular concern, newborns had higher (approximately 10-fold) levels of adducts than mothers per unit of estimated exposure, indicating greater fetal susceptibility and potential risk from these pollutants (Perera et al., 2004).
- Prenatal exposure to PAHs was linked to structural changes in babies’ chromosomes. Such genetic alterations have been related in other studies to increased risk of cancer in children and adults (Bocskay et al., 2005).
What You Can Do
CCCEH’s Mothers & Newborns Study in New York City is finding that exposure to air pollution during pregnancy is associated with genetic damage in babies before they are even born. Similar results are being found in the Mothers & Newborn Studies that CCCEH is also conducting in urban centers of Poland and China, where pollution levels are comparable and higher. Such damage so early in life leaves a long period of time for diseases such as cancer to develop.
You can lower your own and your child’s risk of getting cancer by following these health tips:
- Eat 5 or more fruits and vegetables every day
- Exercise regularly
- Join community efforts to improve air quality
- Do not smoke
- Ask other household members and visitors not to smoke near your child or in your home or car; if they need to smoke, ask them to do it outdoors.
- Avoid excessive weight gain
- Do not eat burned, charred, or blacked foods, such as from a grill