| Cancer Incidence among Pesticide Applicators Exposed to Cyanazine in the Agricultural Health Study Shannon M. Lynch,1 Jennifer A. Rusiecki,2 Aaron Blair,3 Mustafa Dosemeci,3 Jay Lubin,3 Dale Sandler,4 Jane A. Hoppin,4 Charles F. Lynch,5 and Michael C.R. Alavanja3 1Clinical and Genetic Epidemiology Research Branch, Epidemiology and Genetics Research Program, Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Rockville, Maryland, USA; 2Department of Preventive Medicine and Biometrics, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland, USA; 3Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Rockville, Maryland, USA; 4Epidemiology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA; 5Department of Epidemiology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, USA Abstract
Background: Cyanazine is a common pesticide used frequently in the United States during the 1980s and 1990s. Animal and human studies have suggested that triazines may be carcinogenic, but results have been mixed. We evaluated cancer incidence in cyanazine-exposed pesticide applicators among the 57,311 licensed pesticide applicators in the Agricultural Health Study (AHS) . Methods: We obtained detailed pesticide exposure information from a self-administered questionnaire completed at enrollment (1993–1997) . Cancer incidence was followed through January 2002. Over half of cyanazine-exposed applicators had ≥ 6 years of exposure at enrollment, and approximately 85% had begun using cyanazine before the 1990s. We used adjusted Poisson regression to calculate rate ratios (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of multiple cancer sites among cyanazine-exposed applicators. We calculated ptrend values, and all statistical tests were two-sided. Two exposure metrics were used: tertiles of lifetime days of exposure (LD) and intensity-weighted LD. Results: A total of 20,824 cancer-free AHS applicators reported ever using cyanazine at enrollment. Cancer incidence comparisons between applicators with the lowest cyanazine exposure and those with the highest exposure yielded the following for the LD metric: all cancers, RR = 0.99 (95% CI, 0.80–1.24) ; prostate cancer, RR = 1.23 (95% CI, 0.87–1.70) ; all lymphohematopoietic cancers, RR = 0.92 (95% CI, 0.50–1.72) ; non-Hodgkin lymphoma, RR = 1.25 (95% CI, 0.47–3.35) ; lung cancer, RR = 0.52 (95% CI, 0.22–1.25) . Conclusions: We did not find any clear, consistent associations between cyanazine exposure and any cancer analyzed. The number of sites was small for certain cancers, limiting any conclusion with regard to ovarian, breast, and some other cancers. Key words: Agricultural Health Study, cancer, cyanazine, farming, herbicide, pesticides, triazine herbicide. Environ Health Perspect 114:1248–1252 (2006) . doi:10.1289/ehp.8997 available via http://dx.doi.org/ [Online 31 May 2006]
Address correspondence to M. Alavanja, Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Executive Plaza South, Room 8000, Rockville, MD 20892 USA. Telephone: (301) 435-4720. Fax: (301) 402-1819. E-mail: alavanjm@mail.nih.gov We especially thank D. Goldsmith for his guidance on this manuscript. This research was supported, in part, by the Intramural Research Program of the NIH (NCI and NIEHS) . The authors declare they have no competing financial interests. Received 10 January 2006 ; accepted 30 May 2006.
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