By Ben Harder
On-the-job exposure to certain agricultural chemicals may be responsible for farmers’ high rates of prostate cancer, suggest data from a large, ongoing study in two states. Farmers with relatives who have had prostate cancer may also face an elevated risk from additional chemicals that don’t seem to cause problems in the larger group, says Michael Alavanja of the National Cancer Institute in Rockville, Md.
“There is a wealth of evidence that farmers tend to be at high risk of prostate cancer,” says Marie-Élise Parent, a cancer epidemiologist at the University of Quebec in Laval, who isn’t involved in the new study. Researchers haven’t yet determined what puts farmers at greater risk than other people, but occupational exposure to pesticides, gasoline, and solvents may play a role, she says. Some pesticides appear to mimic the actions of hormones and thus cause cancer of such organs as the prostate and breast (SN: 1/23/99, p. 56).