A number of cancer-causing chemicals or industrial processes are all around us. Their role in causing childhood cancers is the subject of ongoing research.
There has also been recent publicity about electromagnetic waves produced by high-tension power lines as a possible cause of cancer in children. Various reports have either supported or refuted the claim, and further research is being done in the United States and Canada to determine whether these electromagnetic waves do in fact play a role in causing cancer. In recent years, new information has been released about causation with discoveries in the field of molecular genetics. Oncogenes (tumor-promoting genes) have been found in certain childhood cancers. Anti-oncogenes (tumor-suppressing genes) have been found in association with other childhood tumors. A small number of children with a particular pattern of cancers in the family may have inherited a gene that predisposes them to develop cancer.
For parents it is frustrating to acknowledge that there is very little we can do to protect our children from an environmental or genetic factor. Research is continuing, however, and one day we shall probably have better means of protection.
