Pesticide exposure and pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most feared cancers, accounting for around 1.8% of all cancers in France. While several risk factors have already been identified, a new one has been highlighted by a recent study: exposure to pesticides.

Overall, 90% of 𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐬 are pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas, involving the exocrine cells of the pancreas. This type of cancer is one of the most dreaded because of its 𝐩𝐨𝐨𝐫 𝟓-𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞: only 11%. In fact, it's a so-called “silent cancer”, usually diagnosed 𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞. Until now, the established risk factors have been smoking, overweight and obesity, genetic predisposition in the case of familial forms, and diabetes.

A study published in the 𝐸𝑢𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑛 𝐽𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝐸𝑝𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑦 found a link between 𝐩𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐚 occurrence. Indeed, their findings indicated that 𝐠𝐥𝐲𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐳𝐞𝐛, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐟𝐮𝐫 were among the culprits, and that an increase of 2.6 kg of pesticide per hectare over an 11-year period in France caused a 1.3% increase in the risk of pancreatic cancer.

Even if these results need to be confirmed, and the association is small, this study once again raises the question of the 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭, and in particular pesticides or endocrine disruptors, in the development of numerous pathologies. This is a major issue for both the 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬.