However, a study published in June found that pesticides can introduce the same risk of cancer as smoking, especially in communities with heavy agricultural production. Since people are often not exposed to a single pesticide but rather a cocktail of various chemicals, the researchers created different profiles of how pesticides are used in agriculture across various counties instead of looking at each pesticide individually. They then tested these profiles against cancer rates.
The study identified the most commonly used pesticides in counties with usage patterns linked to the highest cancer rates. For instance, atrazine, widely used to kill weeds on row crops like corn, sugarcane, and sorghum, was linked to higher rates of colon cancer. Glyphosate, on the other hand, was associated with higher rates of colon cancer, pancreatic cancer, and all cancers in general.
Although pesticides like cyprodinil, which are used to control a range of fungal diseases, are not as widely researched for their cancer risk compared to atrazine and other extensively studied pesticides, they were also found to be linked with high cancer rates. For instance, the researchers found that cyprodinil was associated with leukemia. “Agriculture chemicals that include pesticides and defoliants such as Roundup (glyphosate) and other such chemicals seem to, in general, have a pro-cancer effect.
These chemicals can do this by interfering with the human body’s immune system, which is the first line of defe.