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Study claims potential links between pesticides use and prostate cancer

Researchers have identified 22 pesticides consistently associated with the incidence of prostate cancer in the US, with four of them also linked to prostate cancer mortality.

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In a recent study published in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, researchers established a correlation between the use of specific pesticides, 295 of them, in some US counties and the increase in prostate cancer incidence and death. Researchers identified 22 pesticides consistently associated with the incidence of prostate cancer in the United States, with four of the pesticides also linked with prostate cancer mortality. The years 1997–2001 were assessed for pesticide use and 2011–2015 for prostate cancer outcomes. Similarly, 2002–2006 were analyzed for pesticide use and 2016–2020 for outcomes. 

Among the 22 pesticides showing consistent direct associations with prostate cancer incidence were three that had previously been linked to prostate cancer, including 2,4-D, one of the most frequently used pesticides in the United States. Four pesticides that were linked to prostate cancer incidence were also associated with prostate cancer mortality: three herbicides (trifluralin, cloransulam-methyl, and diflufenzopyr) and one insecticide (thiamethoxam).  

“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.

While this study was conducted in the United States, India too, has had reports where scientists have pointed out to the increasing risks of prostate cancer posed by overuse of certain pesticides. Jean Varghese and Elveen Sebastian researchers from Nirmala College of Pharmacy in Kerala identified 'positive exposure–response relationships for 31 pesticides.' 

In a study titled, 'pesticide applicators and cancer: a systematic review', published in De Gruyter, the researchers mentioned that organophosphate and organochlorine classes of pesticides were the most to be associated with cancer. Lung cancer was observed the most followed by prostate, multiple myeloma and colon cancers among pesticide applicators. 

A few months back another study conducted at the Rocky Vista University in the US and published in the Journal of Frontiers in Cancer Control and Society found out that 69 pesticides including four commonly used ones in India are the major causes for rising cancer rates in the country. These four include Asaphite, 2, 4-D, Metolachlor and methomyl, which are extensively used in India for agriculture. The study was conducted in the five year period from 2015 to 2019, using data collected by the National Institute of Health and the Center for Disease Control. 

Activists and experts in India suggest that right communication to farmers regarding the harms of over use of pesticides sprayed on plants leading to their inhaling can lead to increased cancer risk akin to smoking. 

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