Agricultural chemicals and endocrine-mediated chronic toxicity or carcinogenicity

This brief review summarizes information on the endocrine effects and mechanisms of action of certain pesticides and considers whether exposure to pesticides with endocrine activity may play a role in human endocrine-related tumors of the breast, testis, prostate, and endometrium. Both animal and human data are considered. If animal data are to be used effectively for predicting human risk, a thorough understanding of comparative endocrinology and the underlying endocrine and pathological mechanisms contained in the animal model is needed. It is concluded that the evidence does not support an association between organochlorine pesticides and breast cancer, while the evidence on other tumor sites is too sparse to draw any conclusions concerning pesticides.