A recent study published in Cancer: An International Interdisciplinary Journal of the American Cancer Society found that 22 pesticides “showed consistent, direct associations with prostate cancer incidence” across two population cohorts. Four of these pesticides were also associated with prostate cancer mortality. The study analyzed county-level data on the annual use of 295 pesticides and prostate cancer rates across the contiguous United States.
That data was collected from 1997 to 2006 and analyzed numerous times through 2020.
The study notes that while "prostate cancer is the most common caner among men in the United States . . . modifiable risk factors remain elusive,” while the authors of the study note that “these findings warrant further investigation of these specific pesticides to confirm their role in prostate cancer risk and to develop potential public health interventions."
According to Stacey Leasca with Food & Wine, some of the identified pesticides included "widely used herbicides like 2,4-D and a mix of fungicides, insecticides, and a soil fumigant," as well as "three herbicides — trifluralin, cloransulam-methyl, diflufenzopyr — and one insecticide — thiamethoxam,"which could also have a link to prostate cancer. Leasca also writes that those living or working in "rural, farming-intensive areas" might be more susceptible to exposure to these chemicals.
