In a recent Indian study, researchers found that many childhood cancers can be linked to the air sources breathed by mothers during pregnancy. The study probed the deaths of all Indian children, under the age of 15, who died from cancer between 1968 and 1980. Findings support the theory that children who lived within a one kilometer radius of noxious gas hot spots were two to four times more likely to suffer from childhood leukemia and other cancers. Children whose mothers were exposed to the non-methane volatile organic compound 1,3-butadiene and carbon monoxide had the highest rates of cancer occurrences. Researchers of the study concluded that India is in need of changing its policies and regulations concerning the control of cancer causing emissions. Not only would an overhaul of these regulations help save the lives of thousands of children, it would also help the atmospheric environment of this much polluted country.
