Childhood leukemia is the most common type of childhood cancer
and its etiology is largely unknown. Investigators in DCEG are
collaborating with investigators at University of California at
Berkeley on a population-based case-control study of childhood
leukemia in the San Francisco Bay area and the agricultural
Central Valley (35 counties). A substantial proportion of the
population in this area is employed in agriculture or lives in
close proximity to agricultural fields, making this an ideal
study population to evaluate agricultural pesticide exposures
and risk of childhood leukemia. Furthermore, a large proportion
of the study population is Hispanic. No previous large-scale
childhood leukemia studies have targeted Hispanics or
agricultural populations. A major aim of the collaboration is to
improve the exposure assessment of agricultural and home and
garden pesticides by measuring pesticides in house dust samples.
Investigators are also measuring other chemical exposures
including cotinine, PCBs, and polyc