Research in the last 25 years has greatly expanded our understanding of environmental risk factors for childhood cancer, including exposure to pesticides, traffic-related air pollution, tobacco, and solvents. More is also known about protective factors.
In this CHE Alaska webinar, Dr. Mark Miller, pediatrician and director of the Childhood Cancer & the Environment project, discussed trends in childhood leukemia incidence and survivorship, and how our knowledge about childhood cancer and environmental exposures has improved considerably in recent years. Dr. Catherine Metayer, an epidemiologist and childhood cancer researcher from UC Berkeley, reviewed the state of the scientific literature on environmental risk factors for childhood cancer and leukemia.
The speakers also addressed successful strategies of outreach to communities to help reduce risk, as well as to pediatricians and pediatric oncologists so they can provide adequate risk reduction guidance to families. The discussion explored challenges and opportunities in childhood cancer prevention, including the urgency of addressing prenatal and early childhood exposure to chemicals that increase cancer risk.
The discussion was moderated by Maria Valenti, Director of the Health and Environment Literacy Project.
Featured Speakers
Dr. Catherine Metayer is an Adjunct Professor of Epidemiology and Epidemiology/Biostatistics at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health. Her work currently focuses on genetic and environmental risk factors of leukemia and other cancers in children, adolescents, and young adults. Prior to joining UC Berkeley, she was a Scientist at the U.S. National Cancer Institute. Her research portfolio focuses on the associations between genetic factors, environmental exposures, birth characteristics, medical conditions, and vitamin supplementation and the risk of childhood leukemia. She is the Principal Investigator of the California Childhood Leukemia Study and the Director of the Center for Integrative Research on Childhood Leukemia and the Environment (CIRCLE). She is also the immediate past Chair of the Childhood Leukemia International Consortium Studies (CLIC) and leads pooled analyses with several case-control studies worldwide.
Dr. Mark Miller is an Associate Clinical Professor in the Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF). He is also the Director Emeritus of the Western States Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit (WSPEHSU) at UCSF and the past director of the Children’s Environmental Health Center at California’s Environmental Protection Agency. He received his medical degree and completed a Pediatric residency at Michigan State University. He received his Masters in Public Health in Environmental Health Sciences from UC Berkeley and completed a residency with the California Department of Health Services in Preventive Medicine.
This webinar was hosted by the CHE-Alaska Partnership, which is coordinated by Alaska Community Action on Toxics (ACAT). Driven by a core belief in environmental justice, ACAT empowers communities to eliminate exposure to toxics through collaborative research, shared science, education, organizing, and advocacy.