Researchers have identified 22 pesticides consistently linked to prostate cancer incidence in the United States, with four of the pesticides also linked to prostate cancer mortality. The findings are published by Wiley online at CANCERa peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.
To assess county-level associations of 295 pesticides with prostate cancer in United States counties, researchers conducted an environmental association study, using a lag period between exposure and prostate cancer incidence of 10–18 years to account for slow growing nature of most prostate cancers. The years 1997-2001 were assessed for pesticide use and 2011-2015 for prostate cancer outcomes. Similarly, 2002-2006 was analyzed for pesticide use and 2016-2020 for outcomes.
Among the 22 pesticides that showed consistent direct associations with prostate cancer incidence in both time-based analyzes were three previously linked to prostate cancer, including 2,4-D, one of the most frequently pesticides used in the United States. The 19 candidate pesticides not previously linked to prostate cancer included 10 herbicides, several fungicides and insecticides, and one soil fumigant.
Four pesticides linked to prostate cancer incidence were also associated with prostate cancer mortality: three herbicides (trifluralin, cloransulam-methyl, and diflufenzopyr) and one insecticide (thiamethoxam). Only trifluralin is classified by the Environmental Protection Agency as a “probable human carcinogen,” while the other three are considered “not likely to be carcinogenic” or have evidence of “noncarcinogenicity.”
This research demonstrates the importance of studying environmental exposures, such as pesticide use, to potentially explain some of the geographic variation we see in prostate cancer incidence and deaths in the United States. Based on these findings, we can advance our efforts to identify risk factors for prostate cancer and work toward reducing the number of men who develop this disease.”
Simon John Christoph Soerensen, MD, Lead Author, Stanford University School of Medicine
Source:
Journal Reference:
Soerensen, SJC, et al. (2024). Incidence and mortality of pesticides and prostate cancer: An environment-level association study. Cancer. doi.org/10.1002/cncr.35572.
