Cosmetics Investigated for Brain Tumor Link
An international group of scientists investigating the causes of childhood malignant brain tumors is trying to find out whether chemicals found in a mother’s cosmetics are linked to the cancer.
The epidemiological study, coordinated by a USC researcher, is the largest ever of the second-most-common cause of childhood cancer in the United States.
“We’re interested in whether prenatal or early childhood n-nitroso exposure plays a role in brain tumor development,” said Dr. Susan Preston-Martin, the study’s principal investigator.
Concern arose several years ago when studies revealed that nitrites used to maintain the color of hot dogs and other prepared meats metabolized in the intestine into n-nitroso compounds--which are known carcinogens.
Vitamin C Added
Many meat companies responded to that danger by adding ascorbic acid, or Vitamin C, to their products to inhibit the transformation into carcinogens.
Preston-Martin began her study while working at the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France.
The project will run through the next decade as scientists collect information on a group of children with brain tumors and compare the findings to an age-matched group of children who do not have the disease.
“We’re hoping to have over 1,000 children with brain tumors and about 1,500 controls,” she said. “But we won’t have the interviewing completed until 1990.
“Brain tumors are rare in children, and it takes a long time to accrue enough cases.”
Preston-Martin said several factors may play a role in the development of childhood brain tumors, but added, “We wouldn’t do a study unless we thought the leads (on n-nitroso exposure) were suggestive enough.”
Leads From Earlier Study
Those leads are derived primarily from a study of brain tumors among children in Los Angeles conducted by the USC Department of Preventive Medicine from the 1970s through the early ‘80s.
A report on that investigation in the December, 1982, issue of Cancer Research concluded that n-nitroso compounds could be suspected as a possible cause of brain tumors in children.
Another USC study suggested that exposure to industrial solvents commonly used in the aircraft industry may enter the germinal tissues of parents, precipitating brain tumor development in their offspring.
Neither suggestion is definitive, however.
Preston-Martin said it will require years of testing and retesting to prove that either solvents or n-nitroso compounds cause brain tumors in children. If they do, the next question is how.
“I have no idea if we’ll find the same things in this study,” she explained. “In the international study, we’ll be looking at a number of things. We’ll be checking (toxic) exposures of mothers through diet and drugs she might have taken during pregnancy, and smoking.
“We’ll be looking at exposure during pregnancy to cosmetics such as facial foundation makeup, which has high levels of n-nitroso compounds. We’re also asking about parents’ occupations and will be interviewing fathers as well as mothers.”
Frequency Explored
Preston-Martin’s earlier study explored the frequency of parental exposure to burning cigarettes or incense, foundation makeup, antihistamines, diuretics and cured meats.
She said the current study is unique because it will focus on possible causes of childhood brain tumors, unlike previous large-scale studies that centered on various treatments for children with the tumors.
The National Cancer Institute ranks brain and nervous-system malignancies second only to leukemia in childhood cancer deaths. Childhood brain tumor victims usually are under 10.
In addition to the French and U.S. scientists, researchers from Canada, Australia, Poland, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and Great Britain are taking part in the study.
