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Pesticides on houseplants may pose tumour risk

Ian Sample

Link emerges during survey of brain cancer patients.

PEOPLE WHO spray houseplants with pesticides may be at a greater risk of developing brain tumours, scientists have claimed.

The researchers were unable to identify which products and ingredients were specifically to blame, but raised the alarm because the sprays are so common and recommended for use indoors and every week.

The link emerged during a survey of brain cancer patients designed to examine the role of pesticides in the development of the tumours.

The team, led by Isabelle Baldi at the Institute of Public Health, Epidemiology, and Development at the University Victor Segalen, Bordeaux, studied 121 patients with brain tumours, including 95 men and 26 women, and recruited more than 400 people to act as controls. It found that while all agricultural workers exposed to pesticides had a slightly increased risk of developing brain tumours, those who reported the highest exposures had more than twice the risk. These people were most likely to develop gliomas — tumours that damage a certain type of brain cell that forms a scaffold for neurons.

In a report published online in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine, the team adds that people who used pesticides on their indoor houseplants also appeared to have a higher risk of developing brain tumours. "It is a matter of concern that they are sprayed in closed dwellings and that they are recommended for use every week."

The study focussed on newly diagnosed cases of brain tumours between May 1999 and April 30 2001 in adults aged 16 and over from Gironde in south-western France. The area has a high density of vineyards and farms where workers are exposed to pesticides. —

© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2007

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