| This study examined whether a statistically significant relationship is present between the occurrence of cancer in children and agricultural pesticide use in Mississippi. Data included all new primary cancers identified in 1996, 1997, and 1998.; Incidence rates (IR) of pediatric cancer in Mississippi counties and specified geographic regions were compared to pesticide use in the same respective geographic areas. Mississippi's data provided the observed IRs which were compared with incidence data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program and the Tennessee State Department of Health's (TSDH) Central Cancer Registry, which served as expected IRs. Since data were available, pesticide use and fertilizer use were analyzed independently.; A Poisson regression analysis was used to establish whether a relationship exists between childhood cancer occurrence and pesticide use in Mississippi. Spearman's rank correlation was used to test for any significant association between county and ranked regions with high or low pesticide use.; Evaluation of pediatric cancer cases revealed that there were 172 new cancer cases identified in Mississippi during 1996, 1997 and 1998. Of these, 98 were male and 74 were female. If we age-adjust using the Year 2000 Census for Mississippi's population from birth to 14 years of age, males have higher incidence rates than females (10.6 per 100,000 compared to 7.5 per 100,000) respectively. When these data were evaluated by regions, highest IRs of cancer were found in the Coastal, Pines, and Capital/River Regions consecutively. Much lower IRs were found to exist in the Delta and Hills Regions comparatively, disproving the null hypothesis. Spearman correlations between cancer incidence rates and both fertilizers and pesticides indicated a negative association (r = −0.17, p = 0.12). When county data were aggregated by region, it is surprising (based on prior assumptions) that the regions with the highest exposures have the lowest IRs. The Spearman correlation assessing the relationship between pesticide and cancer incidence for the regional aggregated data was (r = −0.9, p = 0.037). Consideration of many possible limitations and relational factors as well as future replication of results would be advisable to establish comfort with these findings. |
