Smoking Habit in Parents Can Cause Childhood Leukemia

According to a recent study (2009), conducted at the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA , smoking habit of parents and Childhood Leukemia are related. This article tries to gain further insight on this issue.

Important Facts about Childhood Leukemia:

• 2,200 American children on average get infected with this disease each year.
• It comprises 31% of cancers affecting the children below the age of 15 in United States.
• 2,655 children within the age group of 0-19 years, are estimated to be diagnosed with this disease in 2009.
• Risk factors which cause only 10% of this disease are known.
• Rest of the risk factors are searched still.
• Research studies have learnt that this disease can also be caused by environmental factors apart from the genetic origin.
• One such environmental factors is the habit of smoking in parents.

Knowledge Gained from Research: Cigarette smoke contains 60 known carcinogens. These are substances which increase the risk of cancer. The carcinogens present in the cigarette are mostly hydro carbons. One such hydrocarbons is the gas called Benzene. Scientists now know for sure that Benzene gas is a Leukemogen. This is the name given to any substance that can cause leukemia. 14 of every 100,000 children in the United States get affected with cancer each year, the most common being the leukemia.

Relation between Cigarette Smoke and Childhood Leukemia: Research studies found that the relation between paternal smoking and this disease is stronger than the relation of this disease to maternal smoking. Smoking affects this disease in two stages. In prenatal stage, the habit of smoking in pregnant mothers can initiate the disease. After the birth of the baby, exposure to the cigarette smoke around him promotes this disease.