Monday 6 September Friday 10 September 2004, Church House, Westminster, London, UK

News briefing: 10.30am for 10.45 a.m. Monday 6 September, Charter Room, Church House, Westminster, London, UK

NB: fuller details of the news briefing with speakers and topics available shortly

CHILDREN with LEUKAEMIA is Britain's leading charity dedicated to the conquest of childhood leukaemia and it is organising the world's first conference devoted exclusively to the incidence, causes and prevention of childhood leukaemia.

Many of the most prominent international names in leukaemia research in Europe, the USA, Canada, Australia and Asia are attending and presenting new research data.

Two major concerns prompting the charity to convene the conference are:

• Incidence in under 5s is rising and we don't why

• It is now clear that although survival rates have risen dramatically since the 1960s, survivors face higher risks of developing another cancer or other serious health problems. This has brought a new urgency to the need for research to establish whether the disease is potentially preventable.

As well as presenting new findings in areas where research has already indicated possible associations with childhood leukaemia, many speaker and poster presentations focus on evidence suggesting possible new potential links with childhood leukaemia that have to date received little or no attention,

These include diet in early childhood, light pollution, melatonin and circadian rhythms, placental transfer to the foetus of damaging agents, delayed transgenerational susceptibility through the germline, the presence of pre-leukaemic cells in babies that make them vulnerable to environmental triggers, and so on. The conference will also be told of the latest research relating to the precautionary principle, which questions whether the 'safe' levels of exposure to suspect agents are still set far too high
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Contact: Tina Price
tina@tinapriceconsultants.com
44-023-804-54570
Children With Leukaemia
23-Aug-2004