Effect of Industrial Polluted Areas to the Incidence of Childhood Cancer
Child cancer has been extremely rare in the past. The prevalence of cancer is around 1 in 1,000 girls, but it is as high as 3 or 4 in areas with significant toxic contaminants.
Scholars started to perceive the prevalence of contaminated air as affecting not only those that breathe it but also fetuses that develop in the uterus. In 1973, the first study of the impact of air pollution on birth outcomes in Los Angeles established a correlation between uterine exposure to air pollution and low birth weight. Since then, researchers have uncovered myriad health effects in children tied to the quality of the air their mothers breathed while pregnant, and one of it is childhood cancer.
Scientists at the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom, studied the data of children who died of cancer on the basis of a diagram marked by chemical pollution. Children who spend 1 km around toxic chemical pollution in their fetuses have a risk of dying from cancer when they live 2 to 4 times the distance 16 kilometers away from the chemical.
Scientists believe that most cancers in children may be caused by high concentrations of chemicals in the period before birth. Among them, fetuses living in carbon monoxide (the product of internal combustion engines) or butadiene (the raw material for the production of synthetic rubber) have the highest risk of cancer.
COPYRIGHT_WI: Published on https://washingtonindependent.com/effect-of-industrial-polluted-areas-to-the-incidence-of-childhood-cancer/ by Paolo Reyna on 2021-01-13T11:27:00.225Z
About The Authors
Paolo Reyna - Paolo is a senior at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, majoring in International Studies with a Latin American emphasis. During the fall semester of 2012, he had the opportunity to study abroad in Peru, which piqued his interest in international growth. He learned about the disparities that impact indigenous peoples, got a taste of Peruvian culture, and improved his Spanish skills. Mitchel interned with the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, conducting research on food security in Latin America, after being inspired by his foreign experience. He wants to work in international development and for a government department, writing legislation. He loves playing intramural basketball and practicing for the Chicago marathon when he is not thinking about current events in Latin America.
