Children growing on farm face risk of blood cancer

Updated Trends: A new study has claimed that the children, who grow up in live stock farm are vulnerable to develop blood cancer. A study was published online in the journal, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, which says that farmers are at increased risk due to the exposure to the infections from animals and pesticides.

Rsearch was conducted in new Zealand, which had examined 94,000 deaths between the year 1998-2003 which also included 3,000 deaths related to blood cancer. The deaths were then compared to the occupation of the deceased and also of their parents.

It was found that children, who had spent their early years between animals and on a farm, were more likely to develop conditions like multiple myeloma, leukaemia and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Moreover, people who grew up in poultry farms were at a greater risk than the children who grew up anywhere else.

It was also found that the children who grew up in an arable farm were at 20 percent lesser risk, while those who had indulged in the crop farming were 50 percent higher at risk. On the other hand, working as an adult in a livestock farm also seemed to have lessened the risk. But those who indulged in beef cattle farming were at a higher risk.