[Dioxin-l] Fwd: ED-COM: pancreatic cancers and organochlorines

[Carol Dansereau]

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>To: <Recipient list suppressed>
>From: jpmyers@wajones.org
>Subject: ED-COM: pancreatic cancers and organochlorines
>Date: Mon, 03 Jan 2000 10:14:57 -0800
>Reply-To: ed-com@igc.topica.com
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>Exposure to Pesticides Linked to Pancreatic Cancer
>Dec. 21, 1999
>
>Reuters Health Information
>
>NEW YORK -- High blood levels of organochlorines -- compounds once used as
>pesticides -- have been linked to gene mutations found in patients with
>cancer of the pancreas, Spanish researchers report in the Dec. 18/25 issue
>of The Lancet.
>
>The study is the first to link a genetic alteration commonly found in
>pancreatic cancer patients and an environmental substance, according to a
>statement issued by the editors of the journal.
>
>"The results ... suggest new roles for organochlorines in the development
>of several cancers in human beings," according to Professor Miquel Porta
>from Institut Municipal d'Investigacio Medica in Barcelona, Spain, and
>associates.
>
>Organochlorine compounds, such as DDT, DDE, and PCB, have been thought to
>be possible carcinogens -- cancer-causing chemicals -- but before this
>study, there was no information linking them to pancreatic cancer, the
>authors explain.
>
>Patients who were already diagnosed with pancreatic cancer were 5 to 10
>times more likely to show increased blood levels of organochlorines than
>were patients hospitalized for reasons other than cancer, the researchers
>report. Furthermore, DDT and DDE concentrations were highest in those
>patients who showed mutations in a gene, called K-ras, which is believed to
>be a critical target for carcinogens.
>
>"The results do not necessarily imply that organochlorines play a direct
>part in activation of K-ras," the authors write. "Rather, the compounds
>might enhance the effects of K-ras (mutations) or might provide a growth
>advantage to the mutated cells."
>
>"(These) results could improve our understanding of the causes of
>pancreatic cancer, and might help to clarify the relation between
>organochlorine compounds and risks of several other (cancers)," the team
>concludes.
>
>Current blood levels of organochlorines probably reflect exposure to
>pesticides in the environment over the past decade, the investigators note.
>Despite the restricted use of organochlorine pesticides in Spain since the
>mid-1980s, recent surveys revealed the presence of DDE in 78 percent-100
>percent of meat samples and PCB in 50 percent of fish samples.
>
>SOURCE: The Lancet 1999;354:2125-2129.
>
>c. Reuters News Service
>
>
>
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Carol Dansereau, J.D.                           Phone: 206-632-1545
Extension 13
Organizational Director,                        Fax: 206-632-8661
Washington Toxics Coalition, 4649 Sunnyside Ave., N, Suite 540-E,  Seattle,
WA  98103
cdansereau@watoxics.org;   http://www.watoxics.org

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