title: Occupational exposure to carbofuran and the incidence of cancer in the Agricultural Health Study.
abstract: Carbofuran is a carbamate insecticide registered for use on a variety of food crops including corn, alfalfa, rice, and tobacco. An estimated 5 million pounds of carbofuran is used annually in the United States, and 45% of urban African-American women have detectable levels of carbofuran in their plasma. Nitrosated carbofuran has demonstrated mutagenic properties. We examined exposure to carbofuran and several tumor sites among 49,877 licensed pesticide applicators from Iowa and North Carolina enrolled in the Agricultural Health Study. We obtained information regarding years of use, frequency of use in an average year, and when use began for 22 pesticides using self-administered questionnaires. Poisson regression was used to calculate rate ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) adjusting for potential confounders. Lung cancer risk was 3-fold higher for those with > 109 days of lifetime exposure to carbofuran (RR = 3.05; 95% CI, 0.94-9.87) compared with those with < 9 lifetime exposure days, with a significant dose-response trend for both days of use per year and total years of use. However, carbofuran use was not associated with lung cancer risk when nonexposed persons were used as the referent. In addition, carbofuran exposure was not associated with any other cancer site examined. Although carbamate pesticides are suspected human carcinogens, these results should be interpreted cautiously because there was no a priori hypothesis specifically linking carbofuran to lung cancer.
authors.affiliation: Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, USA. bonnerm@mail.nih.gov
authors.forename: Matthew R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Bonner
authors.forename: Won Jin
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Dale P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Sandler
authors.forename: Jane A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Hoppin
authors.forename: Mustafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dosemeci
authors.forename: Michael C R
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Alavanja
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000383:Agriculture; D002235:Carbofuran / Q000506:poisoning*; D016021:Epidemiologic Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007306:Insecticides / Q000506:poisoning*; D007484:Iowa / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D009657:North Carolina / Q000453:epidemiology; D016273:Occupational Exposure
chemical_list: D007306:Insecticides; D002235:Carbofuran
references.citation: Mutat Res. 1983 Mar;116(3-4):185-216
references.pmid: 6339892
references.citation: J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2003 Jul;112(1):219-20
references.pmid: 12847509
references.citation: Mutagenesis. 1998 Mar;13(2):157-66
references.pmid: 9568589
references.citation: Toxicology. 2000 Feb 7;143(1):1-118
references.pmid: 10675783
references.citation: Environ Res. 1986 Dec;41(2):633-45
references.pmid: 3490967
references.citation: J Occup Environ Med. 2001 Jul;43(7):641-9
references.pmid: 11464396
references.citation: J Environ Pathol Toxicol. 1980 Nov;4(5-6):53-63
references.pmid: 7217860
references.citation: Cancer Causes Control. 1994 Jul;5(4):310-8
references.pmid: 8080942
references.citation: J Occup Med. 1990 Oct;32(10):996-1002
references.pmid: 2262830
references.citation: J Occup Med. 1970 Jan;12(1):16-9
references.pmid: 5410616
references.citation: Cancer Causes Control. 1993 Sep;4(5):449-54
references.pmid: 8218877
references.citation: Arch Environ Health. 2003 May;58(5):316-7; author reply 317
references.pmid: 14738278
references.citation: Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. 1975 Jun;32(3):587-602
references.pmid: 50651
references.citation: Int J Cancer. 1976 Jun 15;17(6):742-7
references.pmid: 988851
references.citation: Environ Health Perspect. 1996 Apr;104(4):362-9
references.pmid: 8732939
references.citation: J Toxicol Environ Health. 1994 Dec;43(4):383-418
references.pmid: 7990167
references.citation: Int J Epidemiol. 1999 Jun;28(3):365-74
references.pmid: 10405835
references.citation: Ann Agric Environ Med. 2003;10(2):229-32
references.pmid: 14677917
references.citation: Toxicology. 2001 Dec 14;169(2):153-61
references.pmid: 11718956
references.citation: IARC Sci Publ. 1987;(82):1-406
references.pmid: 3329634
references.citation: Mutat Res. 2000 Feb 16;465(1-2):123-9
references.pmid: 10708977
references.citation: Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2001 Nov;10(11):1155-63
references.pmid: 11700263
references.citation: Ann Epidemiol. 2000 Oct 1;10(7):478
references.pmid: 11018423
references.citation: Ann Occup Hyg. 2002 Mar;46(2):245-60
references.pmid: 12074034
references.citation: Neoplasma. 1977;24(1):119-22
references.pmid: 576495
references.citation: Environ Health Perspect. 2003 May;111(5):749-56
references.pmid: 12727605
references.citation: Am J Ind Med. 1996 Nov;30(5):601-9
references.pmid: 8909609