[Cancer risk in pesticide exposed agricultural workers (author's transl)].

In a cohort study to assess the frequency of malignant neoplasms among persons exposed to pesticides, data were collected for 1791 pesticide-exposed agricultural technicians from all regions of the GDR with the exception of Berlin. A total of 169 malignant neoplasms occurred during the study period of which 59 were bronchial, 21 stomach, 19 skin and 11 prostatic. Bronchial carcinoma in the exposed group occurred twice as often as expected based on average GDR experience. There was no increase in tumor incidence at the remaining sites with the exception of skin carcinoma which showed a morbidity of 1.2 times the expected. Of the bronchial carcinomas 54% were smallcell or undifferentiated and 30% were squamous cell carcinomas. The average exposure time to pesticides among the bronchial carcinoma cases was 13.6 +/- 5.1 (range 6-23) years. The average latent time between the onset of exposure and clinically or roentgenologically evident bronchial carcinoma was 17.5 +/- 6.4 (range 6-29) years. Since the smoking habits of the exposed group did not differ from those of the general population, an etiologic role for the pesticide exposure is suspected for the bronchial carcinoma cases. Based on individual exposure experience, experimental data and the usage of these agents in the GDR, the agents of most concern are the arsenic-containing compounds, DDT, HCH, and phenoxy acids.