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Stomach Cancer

• Cancer risk among farmers in the Province of Vercelli (Italy) from 2002 to 2005: an ecological study
  Farmers living in the Province of Vercelli (Italy) were observed to verify if they have a higher cancer risk than the rest of the local employed population. The present ecological study considered all cancer new cases recorded among the mean employed population with a range of age from 25 to 84 years and resident in the Province of Vercelli during the four-year period 2002-2005. Farmers showed a higher risk for the following tumors: colorectal (OR 2.38, IC95%: 1,76-2,87), leaukaemia (OR 2.65, IC95%:2,12-2,89), digestive system (OR 2.16, IC95% 1,92-2,33), and others. Farmers showed a higher risk for several cancers. Further studies are needed, in order to examine in detail the issue, to encourage the use of personal protective equipment and to promote a more responsible pesticides use.
  [Salerno C, Sacco S, Panella M, et al.2014. Ann Ig. 26(3):255-63.]
• Methyl bromide exposure and cancer risk in the Agricultural Health Study.
  Study used Poisson regression to calculate rate ratios (RR) and 95 % confidence intervals (CI) for associations between methyl bromide use and all cancers combined, as well as 12 specific sites, among 53,588 Agricultural Health Study pesticide applicators with follow-up from 1993 to 2007. A total of 7,814 applicators (14.6 %) used methyl bromide, predominantly before enrollment. Based on 15 exposed cases, stomach cancer risk increased monotonically with increasing methyl bromide use for low and high use compared with no use. No other sites displayed a significant monotonic pattern. Results provide little evidence of methyl bromide associations with cancer risk for most sites examined; however, study observed a significant exposure-dependent increase in stomach cancer risk. Small numbers of exposed cases and declining methyl bromide use might have influenced our findings. Further study is needed in more recently exposed populations to expand on these results.
  [Barry KH, Koutros S, Lubin JH, et al. 2012. Cancer Causes Control. 23(6):807-18]
• Agricultural exposures and gastric cancer risk in Hispanic farm workers in California
  Occupation in the citrus industry (OR 2.88) and in areas with high 2,4-D use (OR 1.85) and use of acaricide propargite (OR 2.86) or trifluralin (OR 1.69) are associated with gastric cancer.
  [Mills, P.K., and Yang, R.C. 2007. Environ Res 104(2):282-289.]
• Associations between stomach cancer incidence and drinking water contamination with atrazine and nitrate in Ontario (Canada) agroecosystems, 1987-1991
  Nitrate and atrazine are two chemicals that are heavily used in certain sectors of agriculture. They are suspected to be associated with the development of certain types of tumours. Existing data were obtained on the incidence of specific types of cancers, contamination of drinking water with atrazine and nitrate, and related agricultural practices for the 40 ecodistricts in the province of Ontario. The data were merged into a georelational database for geographical and statistical analyses. Weighted (by population size) least squares regression analyses were conducted while controlling for confounding socioeconomic and lifestyle factors. Maximum likelihood spatial error models were estimated when least square regression error terms were found to be spatially autocorrelated using the Moran's I statistic. Atrazine contamination levels (range 50-649 ng/l, maximum acceptable concentration [MAC] = 60000 ng/l) were positively associated (P < 0.05) with stomach cancer incidence and negatively associated with colon cancer incidence. Nitrate levels, (range 0-91 mg/l, MAC = 10 mg/l) were negatively associated with stomach cancer incidence. The associations found at the ecodistrict level, both positive and negative, if confirmed by other studies, raise serious questions about maximum allowable limits for atrazine, as well as possibilities of complex trade-offs among disease outcomes, and interactions of biophysical and social mechanisms which might explain them. Although the negative associations appear to have no direct biological explanations, such counter-intuitive outcomes may occur in complex systems where social and biological variables interact.
  [Van Leeuwen, J.A., et al. 1999. International Journal of Epidemiology 28:836-840.]
• Cancer among farmers in central Italy
  A case-referent study of Italian farmers finds a significantly increased risk of stomach cancer among farmers with greater than 10 years experience and among licensed pesticides users with greater than 10 years’ experience.
  [Forastiere, F, et al. 1993. Scand J Work Environ Health 19(6):382-389.]