Pancreatic cancer mortality and organochlorine pesticide exposure in California, 1989–1996

✍ Scribed by Tim Clary; Beate Ritz

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2003
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 114 KB
• Volume: 43
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0271-3586
• DOI: 10.1002/ajim.10188

✦ Synopsis

Background:

Occupational studies have suggested a possible link between organochlorine pesticides and the occurrence of pancreatic cancers. california maintains a death file and a pesticide reporting system that allows examination of this relationship for residents of high use areas.

Methods:

We employed a mortality odds ratio design to compare deaths from pancreatic cancer (1989-1996) with a random sample of non-cancer deaths. using pesticide data for three agricultural counties, we classified 102 zip codes in quartiles of pesticide usage for 1972-1989. using logistic regression we estimated the effect of pesticide applications by zip code controlling for possible confounders.

Results:

Among long-term residents, pancreatic cancer mortality was elevated for those living in zip codes with the highest use of four pesticides: 1,3-dichloropropene (1,3-d), captafol, pentachloronitrobenzene (pcnb), and dieldrin. no dose-response relationship was observed.

Conclusions:

Our study suggests increased pancreatic cancer mortality among long-term residents in areas of high application rates of 1,3-d (an epa-classified probable human carcinogen), captafol, pentacholoronitrobenzene (pcnb), and dieldrin.