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Exposure to herbicides in house dust and risk of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Abstract

We examine the association between exposure to herbicides and childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Dust samples were collected from homes of 269 ALL cases and 333 healthy controls (<8 years of age at diagnosis/reference date and residing in same home since diagnosis/reference date) in California, using a high-volume surface sampler or household vacuum bags. Amounts of agricultural or professional herbicides (alachlor, metolachlor, bromoxynil, bromoxynil octanoate, pebulate, butylate, prometryn, simazine, ethalfluralin, and pendimethalin) and residential herbicides (cyanazine, trifluralin, 2-methyl-4-chlorophenoxyacetic acid (MCPA), mecoprop, 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), chlorthal, and dicamba) were measured. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated by logistic regression. Models included the herbicide of interest, age, sex, race/ethnicity, household income, year and season of dust sampling, neighborhood type, and residence type. The risk of childhood ALL was associated with dust levels of chlorthal; compared to homes with no detections, ORs for the first, second, and third tertiles were 1.49 (95% CI: 0.82–2.72), 1.49 (95% CI: 0.83–2.67), and 1.57 (95% CI: 0.90–2.73), respectively (P-value for linear trend=0.05). The magnitude of this association appeared to be higher in the presence of alachlor. No other herbicides were identified as risk factors of childhood ALL. The data suggest that home dust levels of chlorthal, and possibly alachlor, are associated with increased risks of childhood ALL.

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Abbreviations

AHS:

Agricultural Health Study

ALL:

acute lymphoblastic leukemia

CI:

confidence interval

2,4-D:

2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid

DCPA:

dimethyl tetrachloroterephthalate

IARC:

International Agency for Research on Cancer

MCPA:

2-methyl-4-chlorophenoxyacetic acid

MCPP:

methylchlorophenoxypropionic acid

NCCLS:

Northern California Childhood Leukemia Study

OR:

odds ratio

USEPA:

United States Environmental Protection Agency

2,3,7,8-TCDD:

2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin

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Acknowledgements

This research could not have been conducted without the important support from our clinical collaborators and participating hospitals, which include: University of California Davis Medical Center (Dr. Jonathan Ducore), University of California San Francisco (Dr. Mignon Loh and Dr. Katherine Matthay), Children’s Hospital of Central California (Dr. Vonda Crouse), Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital (Dr. Gary Dahl), Children’s Hospital Oakland (Dr. James Feusner), Kaiser Permanente Sacramento (Dr. Vincent Kiley), Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara (Dr. Carolyn Russo and Dr. Alan Wong), Kaiser Permanente San Francisco (Dr. Kenneth Leung), and Kaiser Permanente Oakland (Dr. Stacy Month), and the families of the study participants. We also wish to acknowledge the effort and dedication of all our collaborators at the Northern California Childhood Leukemia Study who helped make this study possible, and the staff at the Battelle Memorial Institute, Columbus, OH who performed laboratory analyses. This work was financially supported by National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Grants R01 ES09137 and P42-ES04705; the Intramural Research Program of the National Cancer Institute (subcontracts 7590-S-04, 7590-S-01); the National Cancer Institute (contract N02-CP-11015), and from the National Institutes of Health. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences or the National Cancer Institute.

Author contributions

P.A.B. designed the study; C.M., P.A.B., and M.H.W. codirected its implementation; M.H.W. and J.C. supervised laboratory work; C.M. supervised the statistical analyses; C.M., H.D.R., and S.S. performed statistical analyses; C.M. and H.D.R. prepared the manuscript; and all authors interpreted the data and provided critical review of the article.

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Correspondence to Catherine Metayer.

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Metayer, C., Colt, J., Buffler, P. et al. Exposure to herbicides in house dust and risk of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 23, 363–370 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/jes.2012.115

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