The Increasing Incidence
but Decreasing Mortality
Rates Of Major Childhod
Cancers, 1975-2009*
SITE % Increase
Incidence
% Decrease
Mortality**
Overall 35 53
Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia 58 70
Bone & Joint 57 33
Brain & Nervous System 52 33
Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma 40 75
Leukemia 33 65
Kidney (Wilms Tumor) 20 0
* National Cancer Institute, Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results, 2011.
** The striking decrease in mortality reflects the National Cancer Institutes success
in developing pediatric clinical trial cooperative groups in 2000. (The Cancer
Letter, June 8, 2012).
Association with
Congenital Defects
Several childhood cancers occur so early in life that they must have
originated during fetal life, or shortly thereafter.* These include acute
lymphocytic leukemia, neuroblastoma, **and kidney and liver cancers. Cancer
in the mother, particularly melanoma, can spread to the infant.
* MILLER, R.W. Journal of the National Cancer Institute. 40; 1079-1085, 1968.
** The author is a survivor of this cancer
Yazar hakkında
Samuel S. Epstein, M.D. is professor emeritus of Environmental and Occupational Medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health, and Chairman of the Cancer Prevention Coalition, and former Congressional consultant. His awards include the 1998 Right Livelihood Award and the 2005 Albert Schweitzer Golden Grand Medal. He has authored 270 scientific articles and 18 books on the causes, prevention and politics of cancer, including the groundbreaking ‘The Politics of Cancer’ (1979); Cancer-Gate: How To Win The Losing Cancer War (2005); and ‘Healthy Beauty’ (2010). Dr. Epstein is an internationally recognized authority on avoidable causes of cancer in air, water, consumer products, and the workplace.