WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Researchers have identified 22 pesticides that have been linked to an increased risk of prostate cancer in the United States, with four of these pesticides also associated with higher prostate cancer mortality rates.
Dr. Simon John Christoph Soerensen led the study from Stanford University and it spanned several decades due to prostate cancer's typically slow growth.
The researchers analyzed the relationship between 295 pesticides and prostate cancer rates across U.S. counties. This study incorporated a 10- to 18-year lag period to reflect the typically slow progression of prostate cancer.
Pesticide use data from 1997-2001 was compared with prostate cancer outcomes from 2011-2015, and similarly, pesticide data from 2002-2006 was matched to cancer outcomes from 2016-2020.
Among the 22 pesticides showing consistent direct associations with prostate cancer incidence across both time-based analyses were three that had previously been linked to prostate cancer, including 2,4D, one of the most frequently used pesticides in the United States.
The 19 candidate pesticides not previously linked to prostate cancer included 10 herbicides, several fungicides and insecticides, and a soil fumigant.
'This research demonstrates the importance of studying environmental exposures, such as pesticide use, to potentially explain some of the geographic variation we observe in prostate cancer incidence and deaths across the United States,' said lead author Simon John Christoph Soerensen, MD, of Stanford University School of Medicine.
'By building on these findings, we can advance our efforts to pinpoint risk factors for prostate cancer and work towards reducing the number of men affected by this disease.'
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