Prostate Cancer and Pesticide Exposure in Diverse Populations in California's Central Valley
Abstract
There is some evidence that pesticide exposure is a risk factor for prostate cancer. Some pesticides, classified as endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), can affect normal hormone function. Variations in hormone levels affect prostate cancer risk, since normal growth of the prostate gland is dependent on a critical balance of androgen levels. Pesticides may affect hormone function by mimicking hormones, affecting enzyme systems involved in hormone metabolism, or directly affecting the brain regions involved in hormone functioning. A possible involvement of pesticides in prostate carcinogenesis is suggested by findings among farmers in studies of occupation and prostate cancer. The overall association reported by recent meta-analyses of farming and prostate cancer report a summary relative risk of 1.1, but the majority of studies with relatively large numbers of subjects consistently showed excess relative risks of prostate cancer ranging from 1.06 to 5.0. This limited evidence may well be inconclusive because of the difficulty in measuring true pesticide exposure - all these studies relied on self-reported occupational exposure, resulting in bias towards the null, and the omission of non-occupational environmental exposures (e.g. residences downwind of application sites).
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 2007
- Accession Number
- ADA481661
Entities
People
- Myles G. Cockburn
Organizations
- University of Southern California