A new study shows that patients with childhood leukemia have elevated levels of household pesticides in their urine.

“In our study, we compared urine samples from children with ALL (acute lymphoblastic leukemia) and their mothers with healthy children and their moms,” said study researcher Offie Soldin from the Georgetown University Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.

“We found elevated levels of common household pesticides more often in the mother-child pairs affected by cancer,” said Soldin, an epidemiologist at the center, who led the research published in August’s issue of Therapeutic Drug Monitoring. (more…)