04
Mar
Children’s Health Threatened as Rates of Pediatric Cancers are Linked to Agricultural Pesticide Mixtures
(Beyond Pesticides, March 4, 2025) A study in GeoHealth of pediatric cancers in Nebraska links exposure to agricultural mixtures with the occurrence of these diseases. The authors find statistically significant positive associations between pesticide usage rates and children with cancer, specifically brain and central nervous system (CNS) cancers and leukemia.
“Our study is the first to estimate the effect of an agrichemical mixture on the pediatric cancer rate in Nebraska,” the study authors share. “One significant advantage of our study is that we identified the pesticide consistently applied over 22 years in Nebraska counties and then estimated the overall mixture effect of these pesticides on pediatric cancer.” The elevated effect of pesticide mixtures, a reality that is not evaluated in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) pesticide registration program, was reported in Oecologia (2008), documenting harm to amphibian populations even if the concentration of the individual chemicals is within limits considered acceptable. (See additional coverage here.)
There is a wide body of science highlighting the disproportionate risk of adverse health effects in children with pesticide exposure. Their small size and developing organ systems, propensity to crawl and play near the ground, tendency for frequent hand-to-mouth motion, and greater intake of air and food relative to body weight make them particularly susceptible. These risks additionally increase from “agricultural activities in nearby fields (such as [with] agricultural drift, volatilization, and wind erosion) and the transportation of pesticides into the home by family members who are occupationally exposed (e.g., through clothes and shoes),” the researchers say.
Methodology and Results
In analyzing data from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Pesticide National Synthesis Project in combination with diagnoses through the Nebraska cancer registry, the study authors find associations between 32 agrichemicals and pediatric cancer. The data encompasses frequently applied pesticides from 1992 to 2014 in 93 Nebraska counties, as well as pediatric cancer diagnoses among children <20 years of age from the same years.
The authors report, “We observed a statistically significant positive association between the 32 agrichemicals and overall pediatric cancer and subtypes.” They continue, saying that the 11 subtypes include “leukemias, lymphomas, and reticuloendothelial neoplasms, all brain and central nervous system (CNS) neoplasms, neuroblastomas, and other peripheral nervous cell tumors, retinoblastoma, renal tumors, hepatic tumors, malignant bone tumors, soft tissue, and other extraosseous sarcomas, germ cell tumors, and other malignant epithelial neoplasms.”
The agrichemicals assessed in the study are among those most commonly used in the selected Nebraska counties. The researchers note: “Predominantly applied herbicides included 2,4-D, atrazine, alachlor, acetochlor, and glyphosate, followed by insecticides such as chlorpyrifos, dimethoate, esfenvalerate, and others. Atrazine, 2,4-D, trifluralin, picloram, and permethrin were categorized as IARC [International Agency for Research on Cancer] Group 3 carcinogens or classified as not classifiable as to their carcinogenicity to humans. At the same time, glyphosate was labeled as a type 2A carcinogen [probably carcinogenic] by IARC. Despite their classifications, numerous human and animal studies have reported these agrichemicals to be carcinogenic to humans.”
[Disregarding decades’ worth of scientific research on pesticides as carcinogens, many regulatory agencies fail to properly label these toxic chemicals as such. Currently, EPA disagrees with IARC and independent scientists and concludes that glyphosate is not likely to cause cancer in humans. In Beyond Pesticides’ recent Daily News article on glyphosate, the connection between blood cancers and glyphosate is explored, offering potential mechanisms to explain how glyphosate causes cancer.]
The study results show: “that every 10% increase in pesticide mixture was associated with a 36% increase in the rate of brain and other CNS cancers in children. The magnitude of this association was slightly greater for brain and other CNS cancers than for overall cancer and leukemia.” The pesticides, notably mostly herbicides, contributing the most to this joint association of agrichemical mixtures and cancer rates include dicamba, glyphosate, paraquat, quizalofop, triasulfuron, and tefluthrin.
As highlighted in a U.S. Right to Know article, “The findings raise concerns about the long-term health impacts of pesticides on children, particularly in agricultural regions, and add to growing evidence that pesticide exposure contributes to childhood cancer.”
Pesticides and Cancer
As Beyond Pesticides states, “Children and Pesticides Don’t Mix.” A multitude of studies connect exposure in children, who are especially vulnerable to pesticides, with developmental delays, asthma, learning disorders and neurological damage, and cancer, among other diseases. (See more Daily News coverage on children here, as well as the Pesticide-Induced Diseases Database.)
“Cancer has been one of the major causes of death in children globally, and the incidence has been increasing in recent times,” the study authors note. They continue: “In the United States, it has been the second most common cause of death among children aged 1–14 years and the fourth most common cause among adolescents (aged 15–19 years), and about 1 in 260 children has been diagnosed with cancer before the age of 20 years.”
While incidence rates of childhood cancer can vary across the country and throughout the world, many areas, such as those with large amounts of land devoted to agriculture, have higher-than-average incidence rates. In assessing the connection between pesticide usage and the occurrence of cancer, the researchers note the importance of focusing on pesticide mixtures compared to single pesticides.
“Several studies have explored the environmental, genetic, and social risk factors for childhood cancers, as well as the association between pediatric cancer and individual waterborne agrichemicals in Nebraska,” the authors share. “However, individuals are exposed to a chemical mixture, and by studying individual chemicals in isolation, we will underestimate the cumulative effects of co-exposures within the mixture.”
“The current study expands upon the findings of Ouattara et al. (2022), which focused on the association of individual chemicals with pediatric cancer in Nebraska and, encountered limitations due to the confounding influence of co-pollutant exposures and investigation of only three cancer subtypes,” the researchers state. They continue, “We have addressed these limitations by exploring the impact of exposure to a mixture of agrichemicals, supporting our initial hypothesis that such exposure is a significant risk factor for the development of pediatric cancer.”
Assuming single pollutant exposure ignores the reality that humans, and all other organisms, are subjected to many different chemical mixtures. “[B]y studying individual chemicals in isolation, we will underestimate the cumulative effects of co-exposures within the mixture,” the researchers conclude. The interactions of pesticide mixtures can result in “synergistic, antagonistic, or additive effects, influencing the health of ecosystems and living organisms.”
This study, while supporting previous research findings on carcinogenic pesticides, also expands on the scientific literature by identifying certain pesticides as risk factors for pediatric cancer that have not been considered carcinogenic in the past. EPA does not consider the pesticides within this study (dicamba, glyphosate, paraquat, quizalofop, triasulfuron, and tefluthrin), which are found to be associated with increased cancer rates from agrichemical mixture exposure, as carcinogens. This raises concerns about the current regulatory processes that do not adequately assess harmful chemicals and ignore peer-reviewed scientific evidence regarding pesticides and their mixtures.
The Organic Solution
The answer to protecting children and all future generations lies in organic land management. Organic practices focus on health—by prioritizing soil health, the health of all organisms and the environment are also protected. The “National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances” managed by the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) outlines what substances can be used in organic crop and livestock production and is continuously improved upon through scientific research and public input.
Visit the Keeping Organic Strong page to learn more about organic regulations and farming practices, as well as updates on the next NOSB meeting for this spring. Discover the health and environmental benefits of organic here and here, and make The Safer Choice to protect you and your family.
All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.
Source:
Ferdinand, P. (2025) Agricultural pesticide exposure linked to childhood cancers, study says, U.S. Right to Know. Available at: https://usrtk.org/healthwire/pesticide-exposure-linked-to-childhood-cancers/.
Taiba, J. et al. (2025) Exploring the Joint Association Between Agrichemical Mixtures and Pediatric Cancer, GeoHealth. Available at: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2024GH001236.
