Prostate Cancer Linked to Common Pesticides for First Time Ever

• by Natasha Hobley

• Published December 9, 2024
• Environment

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Researchers at Stanford University have identified 22 pesticides consistently associated with the prevalence of prostate cancer—19 of which have never been associated with cancer in the past. Four of the 22 pesticides were linked to an increased mortality rate among men with prostate cancer.¹

To assess the associations, researchers looked at exposure to 295 different pesticides across the United States from 1997 to 2006. Since cancer is typically slow-growing, the research team used a lapse period of 10 to 18 years following that timeframe. Looking at cancer rates from the years 2011 to 2020, the team evaluated if the areas with high pesticide use also had higher cancer rates of prostate cancer.^{1 2}

Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in the U.S. among men. In 2023, 288,300 Americans were diagnosed with the cancer and 34,700 died of the disease. One in eight men will be diagnosed with it at some point in their lives.²

“This research demonstrates the importance of studying environmental exposures, such as pesticide use, to potentially explain some of the geographic variation we observe in prostate cancer incidence and deaths across the United States,” said lead author Simon John Christoph Sorensen, “By building on these findings, we can advance our efforts to pinpoint risk factors for prostate cancer and work towards reducing the number of men affected by this disease.”¹

One Billion Pounds of Pesticides Sprayed in the U.S. Every Year

It is estimated that one billion pounds of pesticides are sprayed each year in the U.S.³ These chemicals, designed to control insects, rodents, weeds, fungi, and germs, are sprayed on some of the most widely used crops including wheat, soybeans, corn, cotton, potatoes, and oats. One of the prostate-cancer linked pesticides known as 2,4-D is among one of the most widely used in the country.²

Pesticide Companies Owned by Pharmaceutical Giants

Many pesticide companies are also pharmaceutical companies, including one of the largest pesticide producers in the world, Bayer. The controversial and cancer-linked pesticide known as glyphosate, also known as Roundup, was originally owned by Monsanto, but Bayer acquired Monsanto in 2018. Bayer and Monsanto have paid nearly $11 billion to settle lawsuits filed by families seeking compensation for care and deaths due to cancer linked to the pesticide.⁴

EPA Maintains Americans are Only Exposed to Very Small Amounts of Pesticides

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is charged with approving and periodically evaluating safety of pesticides in the U.S., while the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is supposed to help safeguard the country’s food supply by monitoring chemical contaminants and pesticides. The FDA enforces the pesticide tolerances that are established by the EPA for the amounts of pesticide residues that may legally remain on food.⁵

Despite billions of pounds of pesticides being sprayed daily in the U.S. and the rising numbers of studies linking pesticides to cancer, respiratory issues, reproductive harm, and other health risks, the EPA maintains that, while pesticides can pose risks, “Generally… people are likely to be exposed to only very small amounts of a pesticides—too small to pose a risk.”⁶

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