An Updated Evaluation of Atrazine-Cancer Incidence Associations among Pesticide Applicators in the Agricultural Health Study Cohort.

"This work was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Cancer Institute, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (Z01-CP010119), and the NIH/National Institute of Environmental Health (Z01-ES049030). The association with prostate cancer observed in this study is supported by evidence of the role of endocrine disruption in contributing to prostate cancer risk., A 2021 meta-analysis of experimental studies focused on male reproductive system toxicity found atrazine exposure was associated with decreased testosterone production, reduced weight in multiple male reproductive organs, reduced sperm motility, and sperm abnormalities specific to rodent animal models. In an experimental study, authors described a plausible atrazine-activated pathway for cancer cell proliferation and malignancy using mouse prostate cell lines. Our analysis found potential evidence of total and aggressive prostate cancer risk, particularly among applicators below 60 years old. Previous evaluations of atrazine and prostate cancer associations in the AHS cohort did not find an exposure–response association with follow-up through 2007., In addition to increased follow-up time and cases, we also have used a more stringent definition of aggressive prostate cancer in this analysis than in previous studies. Results were similar with both definitions in this analysis, although the positive association at the highest quartile appeared stronger based on the more stringent definition."