21.   Next goes the immune system, allowing childhood cancers to grow unchallenged.

22.   Of these, Bowman said, all but eight have died of their underlying disease, a type of childhood brain cancer that is universally fatal.

23.   Officials were testing the water for contaminants that may have contributed to a higher incidence of some childhood cancers in the area.

24.   Other rare, inherited cancers include childhood thyroid cancer and retinoblastoma, an eye malignancy.

25.   Reproductive problems are not the only risks patients confront after surviving childhood cancers.

26.   Stewart suffered a rare form of childhood cancer called acute myeloid leukemia.

27.   The incidence of childhood cancer has been creeping up for years, and while nobody knows the reason, many researchers suspect it may be linked to environmental factors.

28.   The National Cancer Institute, for example, is financing a pioneering study in California of potential links between pesticides and childhood cancers.

29.   The next step is to expand the laboratory research to clinical trials to explore links between the presence of the chemical at birth and the development of childhood cancers.

30.   The role of genetics in childhood cancer is a big unanswered question, said Green.