Issues: Health

Children, Cancer & The Environment Main Page Common Causes The Most Common Cancers Protecting Your Children Q&A

While most experts believe that many childhood cancers have environmental factors, the specific causes are not always clear. Still, scientific evidence links childhood cancer with pesticides, solvents and radiation. These agents are ubiquitous in our environment, which makes it almost impossible to completely avoid exposure. But there are some simple steps parents can take to minimize their children's contact with these potential sources of cancer.

• Keep children away from cigarette smoke. Protecting your children from cigarette smoke is probably the most important thing you can do to protect them from cancer. Although secondhand smoke has not been specifically linked to childhood cancer, it is a known cause of cancer in adults and most scientists believe it is at least as dangerous to children. In addition, cigarette smoke contains many hazardous chemicals, such as solvents, that in other contexts have been linked to childhood cancer. So never smoke around your children, and keep them away from areas where others may be smoking.
  
  
• Avoid using pesticides in your home, in your yard and on pets. Most pest problems inside and outside the home can be managed without pesticides. Check out the guides from the Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides to learn about how to use nontoxic pest control at your house. For more information on pesticides on pets -- and less-toxic alternatives -- read NRDC's report on pet products.
  
  If you do use pesticides for an insect problem, use baits and traps instead of sprays or bug bombs. And remember, if you must handle pesticides, make sure you carefully read and follow the label instructions, wear gloves and long sleeves and avoid breathing the vapors. Always keep these chemicals away from children.
  
  
• Buy organic foods whenever possible. Organic foods are not only safer for you and your children, they also protect our environment and other people. In contrast, growing food with chemicals means that more pesticides are sprayed in the air near schools and communities, more workers are exposed, and more water is contaminated. By supporting organic agriculture, you'll be supporting the development and use of safer alternatives to pesticides.
  
  
• Avoid using solvents around the house during pregnancy or when there is a child in the home. Solvents are found in varnishes, strippers, oil-based paints, most types of glue, gasoline, automotive degreasing and repair products, and recently dry-cleaned clothes. Avoid exposing yourself or your child to these chemicals whenever possible. In particular, be careful to avoid getting these chemicals on skin or inhaling the vapors. If you use solvents, air out rooms afterwards. Also air out dry-cleaned clothes before you put them away, or locate an environmentally-safe 'wet cleaner' in your neighborhood.
  
  
• Find out what you are exposed to at work. Your employer is required by law to provide Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs) with information about the chemicals you work with. Check what these sheets say, and particularly avoid any products that contain chemicals that cause cancer in laboratory animals or that cause reproductive toxicity or neurological damage.
  
  
• Avoid unnecessary X-rays. Medical X-rays can be very important for the diagnosis and treatment of injuries or diseases, but it is important to make sure you and your children are exposed to X-rays only when necessary. Ask your doctor to make sure the X-ray equipment is new and that the dose of radiation is the minimum necessary for the exam.

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last revised 4.10.02