Using pesticides on pot-plants could more than double your risk of developing a brain tumour, according to research released in June 2007.
Householders who use fly sprays, weed-killers and other chemical treatments on their pot-plants are more than twice as likely to develop brain cancer, the findings show. Around 5,000 Britons are diagnosed each year with brain tumours. Some can be removed by surgery but others can be fatal.
Little is currently known about what causes brain tumours, but the study – one of the biggest of its kind – suggested that pesticides play a role. The findings come a week after British researchers warned that using pesticides while gardening could increase the risk of Parkinson’s disease by more than 40 per cent. In the latest study, published in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine in June 2007, scientists examined more than 200 patients with brain tumours and compared them to a healthy group of people. Researchers found that that those who had used pesticides at home were more than twice as likely to have developed a tumour. They also found that all agriculture workers exposed to pesticides had an increased risk of a brain tumour, while agricultural workers exposed to the highest levels were more than twice the risk.
The researchers added that further research is needed as they could not rule out that difference in diet or exposure to chemicals in household cleaning agents had an effect on tumour development. Nor could they pinpoint which products or chemicals were damaging the brain. However, they did suggest that this was a clear warning for people to think of other methods to keep their plants free of bugs.
