Atrazine and cancer incidence among pesticide applicators in the Agricultural Health Study (1994-2007)

Details

• Personal Author:
  Alavanja MCR ; Andreotti G ; Barone-Adesi F ; Beane Freeman LE ; Blair, Austin ; Coble JB ; Hines CJ ; Hoar Zahm S ; Hoppin JA ; Koutros S ; Lubin JH ; Rusiecki JA ; Sandler DP ; Sloan J
• Description:
  Background: Atrazine is a triazine herbicide used widely in the United States. Although it is an animal carcinogen, the mechanism in rodents does not appear to operate in humans. Few epidemiologic studies have provided evidence for an association. Methods: The Agricultural Health Study (AHS) is a prospective cohort that includes 57,310 licensed pesticide applicators. In this report, we extend a previous AHS analysis of cancer risk associated with self-reported atrazine use with six additional years of follow-up and more than twice as many cancer cases. Using Poisson regression, we calculated relative risk estimates and 95% confidence intervals for lifetime use of atrazine and intensity-weighted lifetime days, which accounts for factors that impact exposure. Results: Overall, 36,357 (68%) of applicators reported using atrazine, among whom there were 3,146 cancer cases. There was no increase among atrazine users in overall cancer risk or at most cancer sites in the higher exposure categories compared with the lowest. Based on 29 exposed cases of thyroid cancer, there was a statistically significant risk in the second and fourth quartiles of intensity-weighted lifetime days. There was a similar pattern for lifetime days, but neither the risk estimates nor the trend were statistically significant and for neither metric was the trend monotonic. Conclusions: Overall, there was no consistent evidence of an association between atrazine use and any cancer site. There was a suggestion of increased risk of thyroid cancer, but these results are based on relatively small numbers and minimal supporting evidence. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Agriculture Carcinogens Environmental Monitoring Epidemiology Herbicides Neoplasms Occupational Health Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety
• Keywords:
  Agricultural-chemicals Agricultural-industry Agricultural-processes Atrazine Author Keywords: Agriculture Cancer Carcinogenicity Cohort Study Dose-response Exposure-assessment Exposure-levels Mathematical-models Pesticide Quantitative-analysis Risk-analysis Risk-factors Statistical-analysis Work-operations Work-organization Worker-health

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• ISSN:
  0091-6765
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Maryland ; North Carolina ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 4 ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  119
• Issue:
  9
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20039602
• Citation:
  Environ Health Perspect 2011 Sep; 119(9):1253-1259
• Contact Point Address:
  L. Beane Freeman, Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, 6120 Executive Blvd, Room 8112, MSC 7240, Bethesda, MD 20892 USA
• CAS Registry Number:
  Atrazine (CAS RN 1912-24-9)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2011
• NORA Priority Area:
  Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  Environmental Health Perspectives
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:93ca500b3dc14a4d0b4bde818c23522247297ff39b3e39566db9e6167c79be7485956b291e0827787a16aa6c57ae7936c6274871a225741fbddac1f92e3c3187
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/192792/cdc_192792_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 221.28 KB ]