A correlation between brain tumours in young children and their parents' exposure to diesel exhaust fumes before the birth has been described in a newly published study by researchers at the Western Australian Institute for Medical Research (WAIMR) and the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research (TICHR).
The first author on the paper, WAIMR's Dr Susan Peters said the study found that parents exposed to diesel exhaust fumes through their work had an increased risk of their child developing a Childhood Brain Tumour, or CBT, which is the leading cause of cancer death in children. Most CBTs occur before the age of five.
"We know that malignant brain tumours are the leading cause of cancer mortality in children, but despite decades of research, the risk factors for Childhood Brain Tumours are largely unknown," Dr Peters said.
"This work on the occupational hazards faced by parents of children with brain tumours was part of a wider study led by TICHR, which also looked at other factors which may be involved in children developing CBT."
Dr Peters said that researchers started investigating parental exposure to diesel exhaust after the International Agency for Research on Cancer listed it as a human carcinogen.
The study found that fathers who worked near diesel powered equipment including cars, trucks, other heavy machinery and generators at about the time of conception, had children with an increased risk of CBT. There was also an increased risk for mothers exposed to diesel exhaust any time before the birth of their child.
The only engine exhaust fumes found to have a link to Childhood Brain Tumours were from diesel fuel.
The Western Australian researchers gathered data from parents with children in all ten paediatric oncology units across Australia. Parents of 306 children with CBTs and 950 people in the control group completed detailed occupational histories.
The researchers at WAIMR and TICHR are now looking at other occupational exposures including pesticides and solvents, and their possible link to Childhood Brain Tumours.
The paper, entitled "Parental occupational exposure to engine exhausts and Childhood Brain Tumours" has been published online in the International Journal of Cancer.
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