Although exerts agree that childhood cancer is on the rise, the reason for this worrying increase remains a mystery.

Cancer is a disease whose trigger cannot be ascribed to one thing alone. Science focuses research on genetic links to childhood cancer but others think that important environmental triggers such as vaccines, pesticides, food additives and even electromagnetic radiation may be instrumental in the development of cancer in children but are largely ignored.

Statistics from the USA show that after accidents, childhood cancer is the second biggest killer of children and government figures produced in the UK suggest the same pattern is seen in the UK. Just like adults, children can be get cancer anywhere in the body. However cancer of the bone and brain are now increasingly common sites for development of caner in children.

Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) rates have risen 10 per cent in the last 15 years, while the incidence of tumours of the central nervous system are up more than 30 per cent. So what is fuelling this increase? Well one school of thought is that children are several times more vulnerable to the effects of toxic exposure than adults, and that children's response to this exposure can markedly differ.

One example sited is the response to phenobarbital and Ritalin seen in children vs adults. Phenobarbital, used as a sedative in adults, produces hyperactivity in children. On the other hand, Ritalin, used as an anti hyperactive drug in children, has just the opposite effect in adults.


Undoubtedly the most influential characteristic of infants and children is that they are still growing with different systems and organs developing at different rates and at different times. This growing tissue may be more sensitive to exposure to toxins than other tissue.


At home and at school in fact almost everywhere, in what they eat and drink, and even in the very air they breath, our children are exposed to pesticides and other toxins from vaccinations to flea collars ans insect killer strips. The link between pesticide exposure and childhood cancer is firmly established although vigorously defended by those in the business of producing these agents.

There are many other areas in which links can be made between the relatively 'toxic environment we live in and the development of childhood caner. Where cancer is concerned, the best form of cure is definitely prevention, and perhaps we all need to do whatever we can to ensure that our children have the resources to remain grow and remain healthy in what is becoming a more and more toxic world.