Staff | Red Orbit

USING pesticides on house plants may more than double the risk of developing a brain tumour, plant-lovershave been warned.

A study shows that those who use fly sprays, weedkillers and other chemical treatments on pot plants are two-and-a-quarter times more likely to develop brain cancer.

Around 500 Irish people are diagnosed with brain tumours each year. While some can be easily removed by surgery, others can quickly cause death. Little is known about the causes of most brain tumours.

The study one of the biggest of its kind suggests that chemicals found in pesticides play a role.

The finding comes one week after British researchers warned that using pesticides while gardening could increase the risk of Parkinsons disease by at least 40 per cent. It is a matter of concernIn the latest study, French researchers asked more than 200 men and women with brain tumours about their use of pesticides both at work and at home.

They then compared the answers with those given by a group of healthy people of similar age and upbringing.

This showed that those who had used pesticides on house plants were more than twice as likely to have developed a brain tumour.

The study, published in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine, also found a clear link between pesticide use at work and ill health. Overall, farm workers were almost 30 per cent more likely to have developed a brain tumour.

However, those who had used pesticides the most were more than twice as likely to have developed a brain tumour and more than three times as likely to have developed a particular type called a glioma.

The researchers, from Victor Segalen University in Bordeaux, concluded: These data suggest that a high level of occupational exposure to pesticides might be associated with an excess risk of brain tumours, especially gliomas.

Treatment of house plants was also associated with an increased risk of brain tumour.

It is not completely clear what types of pesticide are being, and have been, sold in the past for use on house plants but, as the general population does not easily identify specific pests, total treatment insecticides and fungicides are commonly purchased.

It is a matter of concern that they are sprayed in closed dwellings and that they are recommended for use every week. They added that further research was needed as they could not rule out that differences in diet or exposure to chemicals in household cleaning agents had an effect on tumour development.

Anti-pesticides campaigner Georgina Downs said: This is a clear warning for people to think of other methods to keep their plants free of bugs. However, Cancer Research UK said more research was needed to confirm the link. Britains Crop Protection Association, which represents pesticide manufacturers, said that there was no conclusive link between pesticides and tumours and said pesticides are some of the most thoroughly regulated chemicals in the world.