Marijuana May Raise Testicular Cancer Risk

[IbPervert (imported)]

Interesting article on cancer of the balls and pot!

ibpervert

Marijuana May Raise Testicular Cancer Risk

It accounts for 40 percent of cases and can be more aggressive and more difficult to treat, Schwartz said.

Marijuana use may increase the risk of developing testicular cancer, in particular a more aggressive form of the disease, according to a U.S. study published on Monday.

The study of 369 Seattle-area men ages 18 to 44 with testicular cancer and 979 men in the same age bracket without the disease found that current marijuana users were 70 percent more likely to develop it compared to nonusers.

The risk appeared to be highest among men who had reported smoking marijuana for at least 10 years, used it more than once a week or started using it before age 18, the researchers wrote in the journal Cancer.

Stephen Schwartz of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, one of the researchers, said the study was the first to explore marijuana's possible association with testicular cancer.

"This is the first study to look at this question, and by itself is not definitive. And there's a lot more research that would have to be done in order to be more confident that marijuana use really is important in a man's risk of developing testicular cancer," Schwartz said in a telephone interview.

The study found the increased risk appeared to be in the form called nonseminoma testicular cancer. It accounts for 40 percent of cases and can be more aggressive and more difficult to treat, Schwartz said.

Experts are unsure about the causes of testicular cancer, which often strikes men in their 20s and 30s. The disease is seen more commonly in men who have had an undescended testicle or have a family history of testicular cancer.

The disease usually responds well to treatment and has a five-year survival rate of about 96 percent, according to the American Cancer Society.

About 8,000 men in the United States are diagnosed with testicular cancer per year, and there are about 140,000 U.S. men alive who have survived the disease, the group said.

The researchers said they were not sure what it was about marijuana that may raise the risk. Chronic marijuana use also can have effects on the male reproductive system including decreased sperm quality, they said.

http://www.javno.com/en/lifestyle/clanak.php?id=232267

[Elizabeth (imported)]

I'm sorry but this is a total bullshit article. It starts off with a 40% figure that is describing the more aggressive form of testicular cancer, not the percentage of marijuana smokers who get it. It's incredibly deceptive. Then it goes on to say that marijuana smokers are 70% more likely to get testicular cancer, but it cites no evidence of this.

With only 8,000 cases a year out of 160,000,000 American men, make it about 1 in 20,000 risk overall. So if marijuana smokers have a 70% greater risk, that means they have a 1.7 in 20,000 risk.

Now taking into account the vast number of people who smoke marijuana and the fact that the study says "may", it's pretty much is just more bullshit. I would not be surprised if the alcohol industry funded the study. They are the ones that always put millions into killing legalization initiatives.

They have labeled it a gateway drug, but the real gateway drug is alcohol. It's rare to find a pot smoker that did not drink alcohol first. And of course alcohol is not only way more destructive to the body, but it leads to lots of violence against women and children, innocent drivers, and suicides.

The truth is, marijuana is pretty mundane. That is why so many people smoke it or have smoked it. Including our President.

Elizabeth

[JesusA (imported)]

Here’s a more detailed version of the same information. This time from a site aimed a physicians, rather than the general public. It also includes a link to the original article, published in Cancer, a leading research journal.

Marijuana Use Linked to Testicular Cancer

By Michael Smith, North American Correspondent, MedPage Today

Reviewed by Zalman S. Agus, MD; Emeritus Professor

University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

Medpage Today

Monday, February 9, 2009

SEATTLE, Feb. 9 -- Smoking marijuana increases the risk of testicular cancer, researchers here said.

Action Points

• Explain to interested patients that marijuana is known to have adverse effects on the reproductive system.

• Note that this study found that one of those effects might be an increased risk of nonseminoma testicular cancer, particularly if use of the drug started at a young age.

• Point out that the study cannot determine causality and further studies are needed to confirm or refute these findings.

In a population-based case-control study, men

diagnosed with testicular cancer

were 70% more likely to be current marijuana users than were healthy controls, according to Stephen Schwartz, Ph.D.,

of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center,

and colleagues.

The risk was especially elevated in men who had started using the drug before they were 18 or who used it frequently, Dr. Schwartz and colleagues said online in Cancer.

Much of the increased risk is associated with nonseminoma or mixed histology tumors, the incidence of which typically peaks between the ages of 20 and 35 and which account for about 40% of all cases of testicular cancer, the researchers found.

Although little is known about the long-term health consequences of marijuana, Dr. Schwartz said in a statement, "our study provides some evidence that testicular cancer could be one adverse consequence."

"So, in the absence of more certain information, a decision to smoke marijuana recreationally means that one is taking a chance on one's future health," he said.

The incidence of testicular cancer has increased since the 1950s by between 3% and 6% a year in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. At the same time, marijuana use in those regions has also risen, the researchers said.

That fact, combined with known effects of marijuana on the reproductive system, led them to hypothesize that the drug might be linked to the cancer.

They enrolled men ages 18 to 44 who lived in three counties in the Seattle area and were diagnosed with an invasive testicular germ cell tumor between Jan. 1, 1999 and Jan. 31, 2006.

The 369 men who agreed to take part were matched for age with 979 healthy controls. All participants were interviewed about their history of marijuana use, using a structured questionnaire.

The researchers found:

• Cases were 30% more likely than controls to report ever using marijuana and 70% more likely to be current users. The odds ratios were 1.3 and 1.7, with 95% confidence intervals from 1.0 to 1.8 and 1.1 to 2.5, respectively.

• 20.6% of cases and 14.6% of controls started using marijuana before the age of 18, for an odds ratio of 1.8 with a 95% confidence interval from 1.2 to 2.8.

• 15.4% of cases and 10.3% of controls used marijuana at least one day a week, for an odds ratio of 2.0 with a 95% confidence interval from 1.3 to 3.2.

When the researchers broke down the cases by histology, the association was primarily with nonseminomas -- 19.6% of controls and 19.1% of those with a seminoma were current users, compared with 38.1% of those with nonseminomas or mixed histology.

And for nonseminomas, the risk was higher only for current users who started using marijuana before the age of 18. (The odds ratio was 2.8 with a 95% confidence interval from 1.6 to 5.1.

Known risk factors include family history, undescended testes, and abnormal testicular development, the researchers noted. The current paradigm suggests that some fetal germ cells fail to develop properly and become vulnerable to malignancy. Later exposure to male sex hormones causes them to become cancerous.

It has been suggested that puberty is a "window of opportunity" during which environmental factors -- like hormones -- can increase the risk of testicular cancer, said co-author Janet Daling, Ph.D., also of the Fred Hutchinson center.

"This is consistent with the study's findings that the elevated risk of nonseminoma-type testicular cancer in particular was associated with marijuana use prior to age 18," she said in a statement.

Although the incidence of all testicular tumors has been increasing, the mechanism by which marijuana use may be particularly associated with nonseminomas is unknown.

The researcher noted they were able to interview only 67.5% and 52.2% of eligible cases and controls, which may have introduced a bias. In addition, they had to rely on self-reported use of marijuana, which is an illicit drug, and there was no central pathologic review.

The study was supported by the NIH and

the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

Drs. Schwartz and Daling reported no conflicts.

Primary source:

Source reference:

Daling JR et al. "Association of Marijuana Use and the Incidence of Testicular Germ Cell Tumors" Cancer 2009; DOI: 10.1002/cncr.24159.

Links referenced within this article:

Zalman S. Agus, MD

http://www.medpagetoday.com/reviewer.cfm?reviewerid=30

Daling JR et al. "Association of Marijuana Use and the Incidence of Testicular Germ Cell Tumors"

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/jour ... 6/abstract

Cancer

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/jour ... 6/abstract

2009; DOI: 10.1002/cncr.24159.

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/jour ... 6/abstract

Additional Other Cancers Coverage

http://www.medpagetoday.com/HematologyO ... erCancers/

»

http://www.medpagetoday.com/HematologyO ... erCancers/

Find this article at:

http://www.medpagetoday.com/HematologyO ... cers/12802

[speedvogel (imported)]

I was about to post the same information as the above MedPage Today article. Also, I noticed one of the doctors is from the Fred Hutchinson Institute which is one of the cutting edge cancer centers of the world. While the number of cases involved may be small, it is still something to be considered. Weigh risks and decide if they are acceptable before taking any action deemed risky.

Speed

[calmeilles (imported)]

The article said the samples were matched for age but I'd like to see what other congruences came out of their questionnaire because use or non use of marijuana might indicate life-style choices where the differences between the groups emphasised some other factor. Are pot smokers more likely to be vegetarians for example or use other recreational drugs (legal or otherwise).

I'd also be interested in how the increased risk was comparable to other known behavioural risks, tobacco and lung cancer perhaps being an obvious comparison but my math isn't up to it.

Matthew

[Dave (imported)]

I'm always wary of studies like this because it might be a case of "blind marksman" but with the diseases and health problems caused by tobacco, marijuana can't be that good. So I tend to fall on the side of believing it.

[StefanIsMe (imported)]

Well, no doubt pot is more damaging than tobacco, if only because it does not have a nice filter attached to the joints... but then again, pot also does not contain the countless chemicals added to tobacco, including formeldehyde and fire retardants (so they burn slower).

I smoke over a 1/4 ounce of pot per week, closer to a 1/2 ounce, and have for almost 20 years. By all data I've read, that qualifies me as a heavy user. I also smoke almost a pack a day of cigarettes.

Now, I could end up with lung, testical, and who knows what other form of cancer in the next month, but I'm 40 years old now and don't even have smokers' hack in the mornings.

I think it all boils down to chance and family suseptability to cancers. We all know some 90 year old crank who smokes 2 packs a day and drinks a dozen bottles of beer and yet is the picture of health.

Ergo, these sort of percentage-playing reports mean very, very little to me.

[ramses (imported)]

but then again, pot also does not contain the countless chemicals added to tobacco, including formeldehyde and fire retardants .

You are sadly mistaken my friend. Pot growers and other illegal drug manufacturers care more about maximizing their profit than Phillip Morris and they won't hesitate to spray ANYTHING on their pot plants to keep their crops from getting eaten by insects, fungus or other wildlife.

I also doubt that any of these guys growing pot have agricultural applicator licenses and only use insecticides/ fungicides that are approved for agricultural use. I'm sure they are buying systemics at Wal-mart that are made for shrubs, trees and other ORNAMENTAL plants. That's probably why the cancer rate is higher for the CHRONIC users.

[Losethem (imported)]

It's nice to know that I can just puff away without worrying about that these days. Not that I smoke the herb or anything like that... just nice to now.

Now where did I put those cheesy poofs?

[eefje46 (imported)]

My mother is using it for medical reasons (pain relief and quality of life) but uses it as tea. She also smoke's but pot and lungcancer is not that good. I don't think she 'll get testiculair cancer. but is is all over in her body.

And when using it as a pain killer for cancer i can't see a connection with getting it. (the cancer i mean). O and when she went to see the doc the first time she coul'd chose between morphine or marihuana.