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Glyphosate Use and Cancer Incidence in the Agricultural Health Study
Journal article   Open access

Glyphosate Use and Cancer Incidence in the Agricultural Health Study

Gabriella Andreotti, Stella Koutros, Jonathan N Hofmann, Dale P Sandler, Jay H Lubin, Charles F Lynch, Catherine C Lerro, Anneclaire J De Roos, Christine G Parks, Michael C Alavanja, …
JNCI : Journal of the National Cancer Institute, v 110(5), pp 509-516
01 May 2018
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jnci/djx233
PMID: 29136183
Featured in Collection :   UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
url
https://doi.org/10.1093/jnci/djx233View
Published, Version of Record (VoR)Open Access (License Unspecified),  Open

Abstract

Adult Aged Aged, 80 and over Agricultural Workers' Diseases - epidemiology Agriculture Cohort Studies Farmers - statistics & numerical data Female Glycine - analogs & derivatives Glycine - pharmacology Herbicides - pharmacology Humans Incidence Iowa - epidemiology Male Middle Aged Neoplasms - epidemiology North Carolina - epidemiology Occupational Exposure - statistics & numerical data Occupational Health - statistics & numerical data Young Adult
Glyphosate is the most commonly used herbicide worldwide, with both residential and agricultural uses. In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified glyphosate as "probably carcinogenic to humans," noting strong mechanistic evidence and positive associations for non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) in some epidemiologic studies. A previous evaluation in the Agricultural Health Study (AHS) with follow-up through 2001 found no statistically significant associations with glyphosate use and cancer at any site. The AHS is a prospective cohort of licensed pesticide applicators from North Carolina and Iowa. Here, we updated the previous evaluation of glyphosate with cancer incidence from registry linkages through 2012 (North Carolina)/2013 (Iowa). Lifetime days and intensity-weighted lifetime days of glyphosate use were based on self-reported information from enrollment (1993-1997) and follow-up questionnaires (1999-2005). We estimated incidence rate ratios (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) using Poisson regression, controlling for potential confounders, including use of other pesticides. All statistical tests were two-sided. Among 54 251 applicators, 44 932 (82.8%) used glyphosate, including 5779 incident cancer cases (79.3% of all cases). In unlagged analyses, glyphosate was not statistically significantly associated with cancer at any site. However, among applicators in the highest exposure quartile, there was an increased risk of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) compared with never users (RR = 2.44, 95% CI = 0.94 to 6.32, Ptrend = .11), though this association was not statistically significant. Results for AML were similar with a five-year (RRQuartile 4 = 2.32, 95% CI = 0.98 to 5.51, Ptrend = .07) and 20-year exposure lag (RRTertile 3 = 2.04, 95% CI = 1.05 to 3.97, Ptrend = .04). In this large, prospective cohort study, no association was apparent between glyphosate and any solid tumors or lymphoid malignancies overall, including NHL and its subtypes. There was some evidence of increased risk of AML among the highest exposed group that requires confirmation.

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190 citations in Web of Science
200 citations in Scopus

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UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This publication has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#3 Good Health and Well-Being

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Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Oncology
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