Researchers in the U.S. have compared the cancer risk from agricultural pesticide use to that of smoking, discovering that in some cases, pesticide exposure’s impact on cancer rates is as significant as smoking.
The study highlights that a combination of various pesticides, rather than a single type, poses significant health risks, akin to a “cocktail” of chemicals contributing to increased cancer incidences. In contemporary agriculture, pesticides are crucial for maintaining high crop yields and ensuring food security. However, these chemicals can negatively impact plant and animal life, as well as pose risks to human health.
Now, in a population-based, nationwide study, researchers in the US have put increased cancer risk through agricultural pesticide use into context with smoking, a better-understood cancer risk factor. The results were published in Frontiers in Cancer Control and Society . “In our study, we found that for some cancers, the effect of agricultural pesticide usage is comparable in magnitude to the effect of smoking,” said the study’s senior author, Dr Isain Zapata, associate professor at the Rocky Vista University, College of Osteopathic Medicine in Colorado.
Contextualizing cancer risk “We accept that a person who is not a farmer living in a community with heavy agricultural production is exposed to many of the pesticides used in their vicinity. It becomes part of their environment,” Zapata said. The researchers found that in such an enviro.