Study Cancer risk from pesticides comparable to smoking in some cases (Jul 2024) Comprehensive assessment of pesticide use patterns and increased cancer risk.

Michael Harrop

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https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-07-cancer-pesticides-cases.html
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cancer-control-and-society/articles/10.3389/fcacs.2024.1368086/full

Pesticides are an essential feature of modern-day agriculture that adds to the list of factors that increase cancer risk.

Our study aims to comprehensively evaluate this relationship through a population-based approach that considers confounding variables such as county-specific rates of smoking, socioeconomic vulnerability, and agricultural land.

We achieved our goal with the implementation of latent-class pesticide use patterns, which were further modeled among covariates to evaluate their associations with cancer risk.

Our findings demonstrated an association between pesticide use and increased incidence of leukemia; non-Hodgkin's lymphoma; bladder, colon, lung, and pancreatic cancer; and all cancers combined that are comparable to smoking for some cancer types.

Through our comprehensive analysis and unique approach, our study emphasizes the importance of a holistic assessment of the risks of pesticide use for communities, which may be used to impact future policies regarding pesticides.

Conclusion​

We performed a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between overall pesticide use and the incidence of cancer across the United States using a population and community-based approach. Our population-based approach provides a more holistic understanding of the community effects of the overall pesticide exposure. This comprehensive analysis accounted for potential confounders, such as socioeconomic status, smoking rates, and agricultural land use.

Our findings show that the impact of pesticide use on cancer incidence may rival that of smoking. Geographic trends showed that counties with higher agricultural productivity, such as the leading corn-producing states of the Midwest, also have increased cancer risk due to pesticide exposure.

Our results highlight the relevance of comprehensive assessments for the development of policy considerations and the implementation of preventive measures to mitigate the risks for vulnerable communities. Our study pioneers and lays a holistic vision foundation for future pesticide-related cancer risk assessments.
 
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