Head lice shampoo 'linked to leukaemia'

[Celebration]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/health/healthmain.html?in_article_id=374306&in_page_id=1774&in_a_source=

Using chemical shampoos to get rid of head lice could almost double the risk of children developing leukaemia, scientists have claimed.

Exposure to other insecticides while in the womb or as a child could also double the risk of contracting the cancer, they said.

The findings will fuel concerns about the increasing incidence of childhood leukaemia in Britain. Around 500 youngsters under 15 are diagnosed with the illness each year.

[Warpy]

1. Oh, great, back to shaving and stigmatizing, I guess

poor little kids. "Yer lousy, teacher sez yer lousy!"

I managed to navigate childhood without lice, but I sure knew kids who weren't as lucky.

[Talismom]

2. My best friend had an outbreak among her 3 kids and handled it a little

differently...

She glopped Crisco (please don't make the mistake of using Vaseline!)on their heads and topped them off with plastic shower caps before bedtime. In the morning she repeatedly shampood their hair--with regular shampoo, and followed this with extensive combing with the nit comb. She did this every night for at least a week (I can't recall, may have been two)and it did the trick.

I don't know what the "experts" say, but I would follow her example and NEVER use those other shampoos!

[murray hill farm]

3. In the south, this is the usual treatment...

but vasoline also works, as does baby oil or any type of clear oil...it is also a preventative...if there is an outbreak in a school...the oil or grease is put on to avoid contamination.

[shamrock]

4. Tea Tree Oil

Works really well. It's really cheap and easily available. Then just add a few drops to your shampoo bottle to keep the little critters at bay.

[murray hill farm]

5. Oh Thanks...

good ole tea tree oil!

[philb]

8. Study finds increased child leukemia related to pesticide use

Exposure to Household Pesticides Could Double Child Leukemia
A new study in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine reports that study children with frequent exposure to household insecticides used on plants, lawns and in head headlice shampoo had twice the risk of developing childhood leukemia. The study was conducted by Inserm, France's national institute for medical research. Pesticide exposures were compared for 280 children with acute leukemia and 288 children matched for sex and age but without leukemia. The risk of developing acute leukemia was almost twice as likely in children whose mothers used insecticides in the home while they were pregnant and long after birth. The use of insecticidal shampoos on children for head lice was also associated with almost twice the risk of developing leukemia
Household insecticides could double child leukaemia risk
BY SAM LISTER, HEALTH CORRESPONDENT

CHILDREN frequently exposed to household insecticides used on plants, lawns and in head lice shampoos appear to run double the risk of developing childhood leukaemia, research suggests.
A study by French doctors, published today in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine, supports concerns raised in recent years about the use of toxic insecticides around the home and garden — including plant sprays, medication shampoos and mosquito repellents — and a possible correlation with increased rates of acute leukaemia in children.
The latest study by Inserm, France’s national institute for medical research, was based on 280 children who had acute leukaemia, newly diagnosed and 288 children matched for sex and age but disease free.
Detailed interviews were carried out with each mother. These included questions about the employment history of both parents, the use of insecticides in the home and garden and the use of insecticidal shampoos against head lice.
It showed that the risk of developing acute leukaemia was almost twice as likely in children whose mothers said that they had used insecticides in the home while pregnant and long after the birth.
Exposure to garden insecticides and fungicides as a child was associated with a more than doubling of disease occurrence. The use of insecticidal shampoos for head lice was associated with almost twice the risk.
Describing the links as “significant”, the authors said that preventive action should be considered to ensure that the health risks to children were as small as possible. A group of pesticides known as carbamates, which are present in plant treatments, lice shampoos and insect sprays, are most commonly linked to cases of leukaemia.
There are three main carbamates used in the UK — carbaryl, carbofuran and carbosulfan.
Head lice products containing carbaryl are now restricted to prescription after a report by a government committee that gave warning of potential carcinogenic properties.
Florence Menegaux, the lead researcher based at the Paris headquarters, and her fellow authors said that no one agent could be singled out and a causal relation between insecticides and the development of acute childhood leukaemia “remains questionable”. But they said that the patterns revealed suggested that the results should be acted on and “preventative action” considered.
Leukaemia is the term used to describe a number of cancers of the blood cells. In children about 85 per cent of these are acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, and acute myeloid leukaemia accounts for most of the rest.
Leukaemia makes up about a third of all cancers in children and currently kills more than any other disease in the UK. Of the 500 children under the age of 15 who have the disease diagnosed each year, about 100 die. Research has shown that boys are 10 per cent more likely than girls to suffer the disease.
In the late 1960s, the mortality rate for leukaemia among children was about 26 deaths per million of the population in England and Wales. This dropped to about 10 by the late 1990s. But the incidence rate increased — from about 40 to 45 cases per million — over the same period.
The number of new cases being diagnosed has been rising for at least 40 years, particularly in the under-5s.
Scientists believe that the cancer starts in the womb, with a second event triggering the disease’s development in childhood. Studies are continuing to determine whether this trigger is genetic, environmental, dietary or related to other factors.
The possible link to pesticides remains hotly debated, with many scientists disputing the suggestion that it is a significant factor. Some have drawn attention to a potential “cocktail effect”, when apparently safe chemicals cause problems if combined with others.
Although products sold for use in homes and gardens are tested, mixtures of pesticides are not generally tested because of the number of permutations involved.

[bobbieinok]

9. remember EPA wanted to test pesticides on children??

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/07/28/national/w154803D03.DTL

.... (lots of nasty info on what they wanted to do)

Boxer and Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., had held up the confirmation of EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson until he promised to cancel a pesticide study on infants in Florida.


Over the study's two years, the EPA had planned to give $970 plus a camcorder and children's clothes to each of the families of 60 children in Duval County, Fla., in what critics of the study noted was a low-income, minority neighborhood.

[bobbieinok]

10. and from a group adamantly opposed to this testing

http://www.organicconsumers.org/epa-alert.htm

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), led by Bush appointees, is seeking input on a new proposed study in which infants in participating low income families will be monitored for health impacts as they undergo exposure to known toxic chemicals over the course of two years. The study entitled Children’s Environmental Exposure Research Study (CHEERS) will look at how chemicals can be ingested, inhaled or absorbed by children ranging from babies to 3 years old.

For taking part in these studies, each family will receive $970, a free video camera, a T-shirt, and a framed certificate of appreciation.

In October, the EPA received $2.1 million to do the study from the American Chemistry Council, a chemical industry front group that includes members such as Dow, Exxon, and Monsanto (see full list of members on sidebar of this page). Critics of the research, including some EPA scientists, claim the study's funders guarantee the results will be biased in favor of the chemical industry, at the expense of the health of the impoverished children serving as test subjects.

For 30 years the ACC has known the high level of toxicity of the specific chemicals being "studied" in this project. These are some of the most dangerous known chemicals in household products. The ACC knows full well the intensely negative impacts that these chemicals have on humans, as does the EPA and has lobbied heavily to keep them legal. This is fully documented in study after study and memo after memo and meeting after meeting over three decades (see side bar and footnotes for reference and further research).

The trick here is that these products are known to have negative long term health effects. This is a short two year study. In other words, the results of he study are already known...there will be little to no obvious short term negative effects on these children at the end of the two year period. The seemingly positive results of the study will allow the ACC to announce positive "EPA study results" to the public, which will allow the ACC to more effectively lobby congress to weaken regulations on these products even more (thereby increasing profits dramatically). This technique has been exercised by the ACC for decades.

more....

[Angry Girl]

11. I thought this went through in the end.

Just within the last month or so I thought I read how this was going ahead (now that the hullabaloo has died and everyone's looking elsewhere).

[philb]

6. Some documentation on pesicides as cause of leukemia- including the one

used to treat head lice:
(snipped)
A study of exposures of either parent to pesticides during pregnancy found that the childhood leukemia rate was 6.5 times normal where a parent was exposed to garden pesticides and 3.8 times normal where a parent was exposed to household pesticides. Home pesticide use appears to be a significant cause of childhood leukemia(7,55,140) and occupational exposure related to pancreatic cancer(7).

Animal studies have also found effects on fertility and fertility outcomes for phyrethrum and rotenone(98), as well as estrogenic and antiprogestagenic effects that may contribute to reproductive dysfunction, developmental impairment, and cancer(98).

Note that pryrethin-based medications such as 1% lindane solution (brand name: Qwell) contain benzine, which can be toxic to the brain and has been linked to childhood leukemia. For this reason, these medications are no longer generally recommended for treatment for head lice. (150)

New York Follows California to Ban Prescription Pesticide Lindane for Lice and Scabies (151)

references:
(7) R.A. Lowengart et al, "Childhood Leukemia and Parents Occupational and Home Exposure", Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Vol 79,1987. & Ji B.-T., Silverman D.T., Hoover R et al, Occupational exposure to pesticides and pancreatic cancer. 2001. Am. J. Ind. Med. 39:92-99

(55) Dr. Marion Moses, Designer Poisons:How to Protect Your Health and Home from Toxic Pesticides, Pesticide Education Center, POB 420870, San Francisco, Ca, 94142-0870 & N.Y. Dept. Of Health, Waste News, Aug 1998.

(140) Dr. M Sanborn et al, Ontario College of Family Physicians, Systematic Review of Pesticides Human Health Effects, 2004.

(150) MedicineNet.com, http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=11395

(151) pdfserver.emediawire.com/pdfdownload/103521/pr.pdf

[philb]

7. the missing link

http://pdfserver.emediawire.com/pdfdownload/103521/pr.pdf#search='emediawire%20lindane'

[revkat]

12. resistant lice

When my kids had lice 8 years ago the pesticide shampoos didn't kill the critters anyway. I found vinegar rinses and lots and lots and lots of combing (I'm a fan of the "lice-meister" brand comb) to be the only effective way to get rid of them. Nasty things.

I wonder if the big problem is repeated use of these shampoos -- since the lice have become resistant I imagine that some parents are using more and leaving it on longer than directed.

Has anyone tried one of those new electrical combs that are supposed to zap the little buggers?

[philb]

15. Hulda Clark's freqency machine(zapper) would likely kill them

Someone in my family has a zapper for killing internal parasites/mycoorganisms,
which are common and related to many disease conditions.

[Orrex]

18. Hulda Clark is a quack

But don't just take my word for it.

Please read more here before you dump money into her whacko-quacko-zappo machine.

[Warpy]

13. The good news is that leukemia is still extremely rare

much, much rarer than head lice in children. Is it an unacceptable risk? I can't decide that one for anybody.

Would I try to find an alternative? You betcha. However, I'd still reach for that A-200 before I'd shave my kid's head and chemically burn his scalp with kerosene, two old, old treatments.

All of this stuff has a risk versus benefit ratio. Sometimes, as with vaccinations, the risk is so tiny compared to the great benefit that it becomes a no brainer. Something like a delousing treatment is a little harder to gauge.

That nightly hot bath or shower with a shampoo should prevent the problem, though. Even if a kid is exposed, drowning the little buggers in hot water and soap before they've had a chance to breed and lay eggs will prevent the problem. It will certainly make sure you don't have to start throwing out mattresses!

[philb]

14. You consider 31,000 cases per year and 22,000 deaths in U.S. rare?

Trends in leukemia incidence and survival in the United States (1973-1998).

Xie Y, Davies SM, Xiang Y, Robison LL, Ross JA.
Cancer. 2003 May 1;97(9):2229-35.

Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA.

BACKGROUND: It is estimated that each year, approximately 30,800 individuals will be diagnosed with leukemia in the United States and 21,700 individuals will die of the disease. Although the overall incidence of leukemia has been declining in the United States, recent reports suggest that incidence rates may be increasing for certain age and racial groups. METHODS: Leukemia incidence (including acute lymphoblastic leukemia , acute myeloid leukemia , chronic myeloid leukemia , and chronic lymphoblastic leukemia ) and 5-year survival rates were obtained from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program. Specific rates for age (birth-19, 20-44, 45-64, and 65 + years), gender, and race (black, white) were also examined. RESULTS: A total of 66,404 cases of leukemia were identified for the period 1973-1998 in the nine reporting SEER sites. For children younger than 20 years old, the overall incidence rate of leukemia increased significantly (estimated annual percent change = 0.5%, 95% confidence interval = 0.1-0.9), whereas the rate decreased significantly among the group 65 years and older (EAPC = - 0.3, 95% CI = - 0.5 to - 0.1). Incidence rates for CLL and CML decreased significantly during this time period, whereas incidence rates for AML remained stable. Children younger than 20 years old experienced a 15% increase in the 5-year survival rates for both ALL and AML when comparing the two 10-year periods of 1974-1983 and 1984-1993. In contrast, there was little overall improvement in survival for adults 45 years and older. In particular, there was a notable decrease in the overall 5-year survival for blacks older than 65 years and for black males older than 44 years. CONCLUSIONS: Although the current study confirmed some of the results noted in other populations, the observed overall decline in leukemia survival for blacks is surprising and warrants further investigation.
2003 American Cancer Society

Leukemia is one of the largest causes of cancer deaths in the U.S.

and their are other such conditions also caused by toxics such as lindane and mercury, as is also well documented.

[trotsky]

17. Are you saying that every case of leukemia is due to headlice shampoo?

:eyes:

[Orrex]

20. Yes, frankly.

US population is currently around 300M, right? 30,800 represents about one hundredth of one percent, which I think anyone would call pretty rare.

Heck, 30,000 people die from the flu each year. If only Dr. Hulda Clark's whacko-quacko-zappo machine were in wide use, we could save all of these poor, parasite-ridden folk.

[annofark]

16. I don't want this to come off bad

BUT...it my town ONLY the kids that came from the low income housing area got lice. Basically NO ONe from my click got it. However, when i went off the college almost all of my friends had had lice at one point or another.

If lice is so rampant throughout schools than why isn't it the same throughout office places.

[Orrex]

19. Welcome to DU, annofark!

I grew up in a lower middle-income area. I'm pretty confident that lice incidence was very low, because news of these sorts of things spreads like wildfire among gossip-happy kids. We knew who had it and when.

Part of the problem of cross-contamination among schoolkids comes from the shared closets in which coats, scarves, and hats might all be more or less heaped in a pile; this is less common in office settings, I think! Also, there's less person:person physical contact in an office, unlike what you might encounter in a school setting where kids tumble around together at recess or in gym class.

[revkat]

21. income and lice eradication

after dealing with a lice outbreak myself (while my husband was in the hospital for back surgery!) I became far more sympathetic for low income kids who seem to have lice frequently. It takes a lot of time and $$$ to get rid of lice -- lots of laundry to do, vacuuming, combing. If you can't take off work or have to go to a Laundromat or don't have a good vacuum (and lots of bags because you need to discard them after each use), it would make lice eradication tough. And it's not just a one day deal, if you miss just a few of those tiny little eggs you've got another outbreak in two weeks. UGH.

A big lice spreader in schools is the pile of jackets that occurs when kids dump their coats, or coat hooks that allow coats to touch. Slumber parties are also a big problem. Some school have gone to having kids put their coats on the back of their chairs to try to keep them apart.

Fun lice facts -- lice actually like clean hair better than dirty hair because they can get a better grip (although with good hygiene you would be more apt to notice before the infestation is full blown). Lice in North America have adapted to grasp round hair strands (straight hair) and so African-American and other curly haired kids here are less likely to get lice. In Africa the reverse is true, the lice like oval hair shafts better.

I know wayyyyyyyy to much about lice.

[Orrex]

22. Thanks for the information.

And welcome to DU, Revkat! :hi: