Class and career hit child cancer rates

A FATHER'S job and social class can increase the likelihood of their children suffering from cancer. New research has shown that children whose fathers work in farming, the solvents industry or tyre manufacturing have an increased risk of dying from childhood cancers.

Children from the upper social classes are more likely to die from cancer than those who come from the unskilled or manual classes.

The research was conducted by the Centre for Epidemiology at the University of Leeds and published yesterday by the Office of National Statistics.

The researchers analysed 167,000 deaths of children under 15 years old in England and Wales over a 26-year period. "It is essential that the findings are investigated further," said the researchers.