- Full (HTML) - Full (PDF) - PubMed:Related Articles - PubMed:Citation - Cited in PMC - Purchase This Issue

Helen Heacock,¹ Clyde Hertzman,¹ Paul A. Demers,^1,2 Richard Gallagher,^1,3 Robert S. Hogg,¹ Kay Teschke,^1,2 Ruth Hershler,¹ Chris D. Bajdik,^1,3 Helen Dimich-Ward,⁴ Stephen A. Marion,¹ Aleck Ostry,¹ and Shona Kelly¹

¹Department of Health Care and Epidemiology; ²School of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
³British Columbia Cancer Agency, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
⁴Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine whether paternal occupational exposure to chlorophenol fungicides and their dioxin contaminants is associated with childhood cancer in the offspring of sawmill workers. We used data from 23,829 British Columbian sawmill workers employed for at least 1 continuous year between 1950 and 1985 in 11 sawmills that used chlorophenates. Probabilistic linkage of the sawmill worker cohort to the provincial marriage and birth files produced an offspring cohort of 19,674 children born at least 1 year after the initiation of employment in the period 1952-1988. We then linked the offspring cohort to the British Columbia Cancer Registry. We included all malignancies in cases younger than 20 years of age that appeared on the cancer registry between 1969 and 1993. We calculated standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) using the British Columbia population as a reference. A nested case-control analysis assessed the effects of paternal cumulative exposure and windows of exposure on the risk of developing cancer in the offspring. We identified 40 cases of cancer during 259,919 person-years of follow-up. The all-cancer SIR was 1.0 [95% confidence interval (CI) , 0.7-1.4] ; the SIR for leukemia was 1.0 (CI, 0.5-1.8) ; and the SIR for brain cancer was 1.3 (CI, 0.6-2.5) . The nested case-control analysis showed slightly increased risks in the highest categories of chlorophenol exposure, although none was statistically significant. Our analyses provide little evidence to support a relationship between the risk of childhood cancer and paternal occupational exposure to chlorophenate fungicides in British Columbian sawmills. Key words: cancer, children, chlorophenols, occupational exposure, paternal exposure, pesticides, reproductive toxicology. Environ Health Perspect 108:499-503 (2000) . [Online 13 April 2000]

http://ehpnet1.niehs.nih.gov/docs/2000/108p499-503heacock/ abstract.html

Address correspondence to C. Hertzman, Department of Health Care and Epidemiology, Mather Building, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z3, Canada. Telephone (604) 822-3002. Fax: (604) 822-4994. E-mail: hertzman@unixg.ubc.ca

Supported in part by grants from the British Columbia Health Research Foundation and the National Health Research Development Program.

Received 22 April 1999 ; accepted 1 December 1999.