A number of epidemiological studies have been published in recent years looking into the relationship between pesticide and cancer among farmers. Here is what some of those studies have found:
- The incidence of prostate cancer among 55,332 men who applied agricultural pesticides from 1993-97 in Iowa and North Carolina was 14 percent higher than would be expected based on cancer rates in the general population.
Most of the 45 common pesticides studied were not associated with any increased risk. The use of methyl bromide increased the risk among all men, while six other pesticides were linked to increased rates only among men with a family history of prostate cancer.
Read Also
Land crash warning rejected
A technical analyst believes that Saskatchewan land values could be due for a correction, but land owners and FCC say supply/demand fundamentals drive land prices – not mathematical models
This May 2003 report is part of the Agricultural Health Study, a massive collaborative effort begun in 1993 by the U.S. National Cancer Institute and several other agencies to track the health of nearly 90,000 farmers and spouses over a long period of time.
- A 2001 study at the University of Saskatchewan found a higher rate of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma among Canadian farmers based on their exposure to a number of herbicides, including 2,4-D, mecoprop and dicamba; insecticides, including malathion and lindane; and fungicides.
A similar study is investigating any possible link between pesticide exposure and rates of non-Hodgkin’s and Hodgkin’s disease, multiple myeloma and soft-tissue sarcoma. Initial results are to be released within a year.
- An analysis of prostate cancer deaths of Canadian farmers aged 45 or older between 1971 and 1987 established a “weak but statistically significant” association between the number of acres sprayed with herbicide in 1970 and risk of prostate cancer mortality. No other farm exposure was associated with any increased or decreased risk in the 1993 study, conducted by the Laboratory Centre for Disease Control in Ottawa.
- A Kansas State University study of morbidity patterns among 65,104 male Kansas farmers for 26 site-specific cancers in the period 1980-90 concluded that they were at lower risk for lung cancer, at substantially elevated risk for lip, prostate, brain, non-Hodgkin’s, multiple myeloma and leukemia, and at slightly elevated risk for Hodgkin’s and several other cancers. The study did not investigate specific links to pesticide exposure.
- A Swedish study published in March 1999 reported elevated rates of non-Hodgkin’s among farmers who use herbicides and fungicides, with the greatest increase linked to exposure to MCPA.
- A 2001 study by the NCI found some association between the risk of non-Hodgkin’s and the use of specific organophosphate pesticides, although the data were difficult to interpret. A stronger association was found between diazinon and non-Hodgkin’s.
