| Cancer Incidence among Glyphosate-Exposed Pesticide Applicators in the Agricultural Health Study Anneclaire J. De Roos,1 Aaron Blair,2 Jennifer A. Rusiecki,2 Jane A. Hoppin,3 Megan Svec,1 Mustafa Dosemeci,2 Dale P. Sandler,3 and Michael C. Alavanja 2 1Program in Epidemiology, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the Department of Epidemiology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA; 2Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, Maryland, USA; 3Epidemiology Program, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA Abstract
Glyphosate is a broad-spectrum herbicide that is one of the most frequently applied pesticides in the world. Although there has been little consistent evidence of genotoxicity or carcinogenicity from in vitro and animal studies, a few epidemiologic reports have indicated potential health effects of glyphosate. We evaluated associations between glyphosate exposure and cancer incidence in the Agricultural Health Study (AHS) , a prospective cohort study of 57,311 licensed pesticide applicators in Iowa and North Carolina. Detailed information on pesticide use and other factors was obtained from a self-administered questionnaire completed at time of enrollment (1993-1997) . Among private and commercial applicators, 75.5% reported having ever used glyphosate, of which > 97% were men. In this analysis, glyphosate exposure was defined as a) ever personally mixed or applied products containing glyphosate ; b) cumulative lifetime days of use, or "cumulative exposure days" (years of use  days/year) ; and c) intensity-weighted cumulative exposure days (years of use days/year estimated intensity level) . Poisson regression was used to estimate exposure-response relations between glyphosate and incidence of all cancers combined and 12 relatively common cancer subtypes. Glyphosate exposure was not associated with cancer incidence overall or with most of the cancer subtypes we studied. There was a suggested association with multiple myeloma incidence that should be followed up as more cases occur in the AHS. Given the widespread use of glyphosate, future analyses of the AHS will allow further examination of long-term health effects, including less common cancers. Key words: cancer, cohort study, farming, glyphosate, pesticide. Environ Health Perspect 113:49-54 (2005) . doi:10.1289/ehp.7340 available via http://dx.doi.org/ [Online 4 November 2004]
Address correspondence to A.J. De Roos, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and University of Washington Department of Epidemiology, 1100 Fairview Ave. N, M4-B874, Seattle, WA 98109 USA. Telephone: (206) 667-7315. Fax: (206) 667-4787. E-mail: deroos@u.washington.edu The authors declare they have no competing financial interests. Received 21 June 2004 ; accepted 3 November 2004.
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