Being exposed prolongedly to multiple pesticides can increase the risk of developing cancer in children: in particular brain tumors and central nervous system (SNC).
This is what emerges from a new research conducted byUniversity of Nebraska Medical Center, the first that estimated thecombined effect of 32 different pesticides e which put the abuse of pesticides under the magnifying glass right there, in the heart of the United States. In fact, in Nebraska, in fact, the incidence rates for childhood tumors are among the highest in the USA.
According to the results, in short, published on Geohealth, A 10% increase in agrofarmacious mixtures is associated with a surge in pediatric tumors.
The deadly cocktail, the study
The researchers examined how exposure to pesticides affects children with pediatric cancer in Nebraska. Nebraska is mainly an agricultural state and previous studies had already observed how exposure to atrazine and nitrate in surface waters affects pediatric tumors.
Now scholars have used statistical methods capable of efficiently managing a mixture of pesticides instead of a single pesticide to understand how these pesticides together can contribute to pediatric cancers in the Nebraska counties.
The percentages that emerged make us reflect:
Our results demonstrate the importance of considering the chemical mixtures in the study of oncological risk in children, the researchers conclude, which, however, underline some limits of their research: the designed population is over 90% white, and the data stop to 2015.
Other investigations will certainly be necessary, but it is not difficult to believe that the pesticides that spread in the air, water and soil, children are not particularly vulnerable and do not suffer the consequences.
