AGRICULTURAL CHEMICALS & RISK OF CANCER

Agricultural Chemicals & Risk of Cancer

Agricultural Chemicals & Risk of Cancer

Life is a collection of chemicals. Thousands of different molecules are required for the cellular functions of every plant, animal, and microorganism. Without chemicals, life would not exist. How, then, has our society developed the notion that chemicals are "bad" and that "natural" things do not contain chemicals? The answer is probably quite complex. Some of the factors that contribute to the answer include the following:

Many human diseases, including certain types of cancer, have been associated with long-term exposure to certain synthetic chemicals (made by people) that are used in industry and agriculture. This has led some people to brand all synthetic chemicals as dangerous.

The most abundant source of "natural" chemicals to which people are continually exposed is food. We may believe that the natural chemicals in food are safe because we benefit from thousands of years of human experience testing and choosing foods. We no longer try to eat many foods that contain toxic chemicals because we can rely on history and lore to warn us of them. The avenging angel mushroom, food spoiled by certain bacteria, and the root of the hemlock plant are far more toxic than many of the synthetic chemicals we are concerned about. However, we have much less experience (only 50-60 years) with most of the synthetic chemicals used in industry and agriculture. We are still learning about which ones we should use and which ones to avoid.

The first flush of extensive use of synthetic pesticides in the 1940s and ?50s included some nasty chemicals that were used in large quantities and had negative consequences for the environment. The somewhat indiscriminate approach to agricultural chemicals in the past is currently contributing to the arrangement made by some people that we should avoid all synthetic chemicals because they have such potential for harm.

In contrast with the popular view and the position taken by the federal regulatory agencies, some people believe we should focus on the activity of a chemical and how much of it we are exposed to, not whether it was synthesized in a factory or made by a plant, animal, or microbe.

One of the areas in which this debate about chemical safety has become quite heated is in the regulation of chemicals based on their potential for causing cancer. Many chemicals that are naturally found in the foods we eat show potential for causing cancer in the same tests that have been set up for synthetic chemicals, which has led some scientists to question the relevance of these test.

The epidemiology of Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) was reviewed. In the United States, the annual incidence of NHL rose from 5.9 per 100,000 people in 1950 to 9.3 per 100,000 in 1975, to 13.7 in 1989. The elderly showed the greatest increase. Most of the recent increase was not attributable to acquired immune deficiency syndrome. Mortality rates due to NHL were increasing at almost 2% per ...