Nearly two dozen of the most common pesticides used in the United States are linked to prostate cancer, a study warns.
Stanford University researchers analyzed exposure to 295 different types of chemicals nationwide between 1997 and 2006.
Since cancer takes time to develop, the team analyzed cancer rates between 2011 and 2020 to see if areas with high pesticide use also had high cancer rates.
They found that men exposed to 22 different pesticides were more likely to be diagnosed with the disease than those less exposed to the chemicals, including 19 who had never before been linked to cancer.
Four of those pesticides were also linked to an increased risk of dying from cancer. The study authors wrote that: “These findings suggest that pesticide exposure may contribute to variations in prostate cancer incidence and mortality.”
They are commonly used in some of the most widespread crops in the country, such as soybeans, wheat, corn and oats. These crops are found in everything from cereals to bars and plant-based milks.
More than 95 percent of samples of strawberries, apples, cherries, spinach, nectarines and grapes had at least two pesticides, the EWG found.
This adds to previous Environmental Working Group (EWG) studies showing that approximately 90 percent of strawberries, apples, cherries, spinach, nectarines and grapes tested positive for two pesticides.
However, much of the corn and grains grown in the United States are not made directly for human consumption, but are instead processed for ethanol or used as livestock feed.
The same EWG analysis found that sweet corn grown for human consumption has low pesticide content.
In 2023, 288,300 Americans will be diagnosed with prostate cancer and 34,700 people will die from the disease.
It is the second most common cancer among men in the United States.
It affects the walnut-sized gland at the base of the male bladder that is important for generating semen. Approximately one in eight men will be diagnosed with this disease at some point in their lives.
For years, prostate cancer has been linked to exposure to different chemicals, including pesticides, according John Hopkins.
Cancers of the brain, kidney, lymph, and blood have also been linked to pesticides.
The Stanford study, published in the journal of the American Cancer Society, Canceranalyzed county-level data on pesticide use and estimated the main types of chemicals people across the country were exposed to and at what levels.
They analyzed 295 of some of the most common pesticides over two different time periods, to check that any patterns they could find didn’t happen just once.
First, they compared pesticide exposure from 1997 to 2001 with prostate cancer rates from 2011 to 2015.
In this period, there were 953,204 prostate cancer diagnoses and 140,086 deaths during this period.
Second, they compared pesticide exposure from 2002 to 2006 with prostate cancer rates from 2016 to 2020.
In this period there were 1,063,671 diagnoses and 156,687 deaths.
They found that 22 of the pesticides they investigated were associated with an increased incidence of prostate cancer.
Lead author, urologist Dr Simon John Christoph Soerensen, said: “This research demonstrates the importance of studying environmental exposures, such as pesticide use, to potentially explain some of the geographic variations we see in incidence and deaths from prostate cancer in the United States.
Studies by the EWG found the pesticide glyphosate in grains in both 2018 and 2023. They note that the
Some of these pesticides, including 2,4-D, linuron and carbaryl, have already been linked to cancer in older studies.
The International Investigation Agency classifies 2,4-D as “possibly carcinogenic to humans” and warns against inhaling or ingesting the chemical.
However, 19 other chemicals, used to control weeds, insects, fungi and other pests, have never before been linked to prostate cancer, the authors report.
Some of them include chloransulam-methyl, a herbicide used on soybeans, and thiamethoxam, an insecticide sprayed on corn, cotton, soybeans, wheat and potato seeds, and glyphosate, a herbicide found in RoundUp.
Four pesticides were also linked to an increased risk of dying from prostate cancer, including rifluralin, chloransulam-methyl, diflufenzopyr and thiamethoxam.
A DailyMail.com analysis found that 14 of the 22 chemicals identified by the Stanford research are used in soybeans, 13 in corn, 10 in wheat, 10 in oats and 8 in almonds.
However, this does not mean that all of these products are always consumed by humans.
In 2020, less than 2 percent of corn grown in the U.S. was for human consumption, according to the World Resources Institute– and the majority goes to the production of ethanol and animal feed.
Only about 15 percent of American soybeans are grown for human consumption; the rest is used to feed poultry or as fuel. according to the USDA.
Still, some older research has found that these pesticides sometimes end up in finished food products.
DM.com’s analysis found that 10 of the pesticides identified by the Stanford researchers appear to be used on wheat products.
A 2018 study The Environmental Working Group found glyphosate in 71 of 73 oat-based products, including cereals, bars and instant oats.
a follow-up study in 2023 found that it was still present in about 30 percent of the oat products tested.
The Environmental Protection Agency previously told DM.com that the more than 350 pesticides registered for use in the U.S. are strictly regulated.
A representative said: ‘The EPA periodically reviews existing registered pesticides to ensure they can be used without unreasonable risks to human health and the environment.
“The registration review program aims to ensure that, as the ability to assess risk evolves and policies and practices change, all registered pesticides continue to meet the legal standard of having no unreasonable adverse effects.”
Furthermore, the research published here does not prove that pesticides cause cancer, it simply establishes a link, said Professor Oliver Jones, professor of chemistry at RMIT University in Melbourne. he told the cosmos.
Professor Jones said: “The authors are not actually saying that pesticides cause prostate cancer, just that they found 22 pesticides that were statistically associated with prostate cancer and that more research is needed.”
As research continues and scientists discover what does and does not contribute to cancer risk in the U.S., doctors may be better prepared to prevent and treat the disease.
Dr Soerensen said: “From these findings, we can advance our efforts to identify risk factors for prostate cancer and work to reduce the number of men affected by this disease.”