Cancer incidence among paraquat exposed applicators in the agricultural health study: prospective cohort study.

Full Abstract

Paraquat (1,1'-dimethyl-4, 4'-bipyridinium dichloride) is a nonselective herbicide that is extremely toxic after acute exposure. It was once widely used in North America and is still used in some countries, including the United States. Although there is little firm evidence that paraquat is a carcinogen, previous studies have suggested a potential relationship with some cancers. This prospective cohort study was performed to evaluate the association between lifetime paraquat exposure and cancer incidence among licensed pesticide applicators with 9.1 years of median follow-up. The lifetime ever-use of paraquat was evaluated in 56,224 subjects at baseline and exposure-response relationship was evaluated in 24,667 subjects (44%) who provided detailed information on total life-time paraquat exposure in a second questionnaire. Among the total subjects, the risk for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) in the exposed group was marginally elevated (Relative risk [RR], 1.47; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.97-2.23) compared to the non-exposed group. However, among the 24,667 applicators who supplied total life-time exposure days, the highest tertile of lifetime exposure-days (LE) and intensity-weighted lifetime exposure-days (IWLE) was not significantly associated with NHL risk (RR, 1.57; 95%CI, 0.57-4.23 for LE; RR, 1.42; 95%CI, 0.40-4.71 for IWLE, respectively) and there was no significant exposure-response trend (p-trend > 0.1). There was some suggestion of a possible link between paraquat exposure and NHL risk in humans, but the inconsistency in exposure level trend suggests that this could be a chance finding.

Author information

Author/s: Park, Sue K (SK); Kang, Daehee (D); Beane-Freeman, Laura (L); Blair, Aaron (A); Hoppin, Jane A (JA); Sandler, Dale P (DP); Lynch, Charles F (CF); Knott, Charles (C); Gwak, Jin (J); Alavanja, Michael (M);

Affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea. suepark(-atsign-)snu.ac.kr

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Intramural

Journal: International journal of occupational and environmental health (Int J Occup Environ Health), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: -2009 Jul-Sep; vol 15 (issue 3) : pp 274-81

Dates: Created 2009/08/04; Completed 2009/09/29;

PMID: 19650582, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 9/29/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article
(including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.