Many people work with industrial solvents like paints, glues, and other chemicals. But a study has linked brain cancers in children with parents who worked with solvents.
There was believed to be an association between exposure to chemicals by parents using and the incidence of brain tumors in children, but previous studies produced inconsistent results and did not pinpoint which chemical solvents might produce the greatest risk. This case control study examined the link between childhood brain tumors and occupational exposure to solvents.
Researchers collected information about 950 healthy children and 306 children with brain tumors who were diagnosed between 2005 and 2010. The parents completed detailed occupational histories about their use of chemicals including benzene, toluene, and xylene, among others during key time periods relative to the birth of their child. Adjustments were made to match variables such as the child's age, sex, where they lived, parental education, and occupational exposure to diesel exhaust.
This increased risk appears to be attributable to exposure to a category of industrial chemicals called aromatic hydrocarbons, which includes benzene. The study found an increased risk of childhood brain tumors with mothers who worked with chlorinated solvents at any time before birth. Fathers who worked with toluene or xylene in the year before conception were four times as likely to have a child who developed a brain tumor. Fathers who worked with benzene in the year before conception were twice as likely to have a child who developed a brain tumor.
Brain cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in children under the age of 10.
The five-year study was led by epidemiologist Dr. Susan Peters of the University of Western Australia. This study is part of a larger investigation in Australia into environmental and genetic risk factors.