ID Number		1446
Study Type		Epidemiology
Model		Occupational exposure to ELF and analysis of teratogenic and carcinogenic effects in offspring
Details		Women in Quebec, Canada were analyzed for associations between occupational exposure to ELF and teratogenic effects and childhood leukemia in their offspring. Initial studies looked at 491 mothers of children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia between 1980-1993. The jobs with the highest ELF exposures (>0.23 uT) included bakery workers, cashiers, cooks and kitchen workers, electronics workers, residential and industrial sewing machine operators, and textile machine operators. By work environment, the most highly exposed job categories were electronics workers in an assembly plant (0.70 uT) and sewing machine operators in a textile factory (0.68 uT) or shoe factory (0.66 uT). The authors report a moderate risk of leukemia in offspring of Mothers occupationally exposed to high levels of ELF during pregnancy. In a subsequent study investigating cases of childhood brain tumors (n = 548) in Canada, the authors report correlations with maternal ELF exposure estimations (from interviews) and total childhood brain tumors (OR = 1.5, 95% CI = 1.1-2.2) as well as astroglial tumors (OR = 1.5, 95% CI 1.0-2.4). Specifically for sewing machine operators, there was an increased correlation for total brain tumors (OR = 2.3, 95% CI = 1.0-5.4) and astroglial brain tumors (OR = 2.3, 95% CI = 0.8-6.3) among offspring.
Findings		Effects
Status		Completed With Publication
Principal Investigator		McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada - claire.infante-rivard@mcgill.ca
Funding Agency		Hydro Quebec, Canada
Country		CANADA
References		Li, P et al. Cancer Causes Control, (2009) 20:945-955 Infante-Rivard, C et al. Epidemiology, (2003) 14:437-441 Infante-Rivard, C et al. Am J Epidemiology, (2002) 155:368-378 Infante-Rivard, C Lancet, (1995) 346:177-
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